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THE COURIER.
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HER MAIDS OF HONOR
RUSSIA'S ACADEMY WHERE
TKEY ARE TRAINED.
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Learn Haaalllty Amour Other Thlaga
Matt Be Able to Mew, Brad Aload
for Hoar sad Stand for Indefinite
Period.
PEAKING- of tho
Russian schools,
there is enc aca-
idemy at Moscow
I which Is unique in
Its way. I am Euro
that a similar in
stitution dees not
exist in any other
country, says the
Philadelphia Times
It is a school for
yeung ladles of high birth, whose par
ents desire that they Bhall become
maids of honor at the imperial court.
The English queen has only six or
eight maids of honor, and I believe the
royal attendants of that description
are even fewer In number at courts
where there is a queen regnant, queen
regent or queen consort of first-class
rank. Of course, by "queens" I also
Bean "empresses." All the reigning
coBBerts who have the imperial title
are also queens. Empress Elizabeth
of Austria is also queen of Hungary:
Empress Alexandria of Russia Is queen
f Poland; Empress Augusta Victoria
ef Germany Is also queen of Prussia
and Queen Victoria is also empress of
India.
In Russia there are several institu
tions which retain an oriental flavor,
and the fact that the czarina is always
surrounded by an imposing bevy of
unmarried women Is a case in point.
At least fifty young women, all the
daughters of great nobles, pay her per
sonal service. They are In two ranks,
"cipher" and "portrait," distinctions
which I will presently explain. Can
didates for the position of maids of
honor to the empress have their names
registered by a court official, whose
title might be translated . as
"overseer of the maids." This is
often done a day or two after the birth
M the aspiring young ladies. At tho
age of 16 they enter the official school
of the maids of honor and there they
are taught everything pertaining to the
court, as welt as everything that goes
to make a well-educated young gentle
woman. The girls must acquire the
art of legible writing and be able to
correspond fluently, not only in Rus
sian, but in English, German, French
and Italian. They must be able to take
dictation in all those languages rapid
ly. They are also expected to become
familiar not only with the routine eti
quette of their own and foreign courts,
but .they must learn rules of prece
dence, delicate distinctions of rank and
ether Intricacies of court life, almost
Impossible to explain to those who
have Bot been born In the atmosphere
of the. purple. Future maids of honor
are also required to be not only clever
at embroidery but capable, if neces
sary, of ordinary domestic stitching.
While in -attendance there are always
possibilities of a ready needle being
required for the empress or a grand
duchess. They are expected to know
how to order a dinner and how to di
rect cooks ia the way of preparing
dishes favored by imperial personages.
They must have a capacity of being
able to read aloud for hours if neces
sary, without undue fatigue; of belns
able to stand for Indefinite periods; of
telng able to receive snubbings. scold
ings', even abuse with patient com
posure', and finally they must inculcate
within them the fact that an empress
or grand duchess is a personage al
most divine In attribute.
All these accomplishments acquired,
r apparently acquired, it remains with
a maid of honor lastly to be of such
favor ia her features, her general ap
pearance and her dress that she enforces
attraction from the empress or from
ase of the other half-dozen grand duch
esses ef Russia, who are permitted to
have the second pick of the maids of
fee-or. after the czarina has finished
her owb appointments. Before, how
yT.iOcbapjapJntnepts .can be rati
ne, we o.sr nimseir inspect too can
didates. Indeed, at various periods
the czar makes a point of visiting the
school and generally "looks over" the
girls.
The czarina's maids of honor enjoy
a barbaric splendor of costume that
far exceeds anything to be seen at any
other European court. A white satin
robe stretches from chin to toes, the
buttons up the front being set with
precious stones. Over this is thrown
a sort of red velvet cloak, embroidered
with gold and having long pendant
sleeves. On their heads rests the
kakochnlk or national cap of crimson
velvet, thickly studded with jewels,
from the summit of which hangs a veil
of white tulle that spreads half way
over the voluminous train. Thjs gor
geouB array is donned on all state oc
casions until the wearer passes from
the "cipher" to the "portrait" stage of
promotion. The juniors wear for some
years on their left shoulders the mono
gram of their mistress worked In pale
blue silk, but after a period of service
they substitute for this the portrait
of the empress framed in brilliants and
exchange their crimson and gold for a
less radiant cap of green and silver.
While receiving their education they
wear plain woolen frocks, with frilled
silk aprons, but these dresses are so
contrived that the upper part of the
bodice and the long sleeves can be
removed at will. Whenever the czar .
visits the schools all the girls appear
decollete.
KtablUhinsr Its Identity!
Miss Vassar Who Is tis Rushln'
ihe Growler I hear spoken of?
Miss Wcllesley That's the Russian
Bear. I suppose. Up-to-Date.
j WESTERN SKETCHES. E
He Didn't Team for Wealth.
"But a man kin make money very
fast In this town if he likes," remaiked
the Oklahoma man. In a casual sort
of manner.
"I suppofe so," put In the stranger
at once, with an earnestness that
showed he was eager to be let into the
secret of it.
"Yes," rejoined the other; "I saw a
man here the other day make a thou
sand dollar!! almost at once, ye mllU
say."
"Indeed!"
"Fac. sir; he was a stranger, jnst
like you I don't know whar he coir.03
from or ar.ythln' about him mor'r. I
know about you; but anyhow he comes
here, sir, an he gits In with some o'
them thar Insurance agents over to tho
station yonder, an, gits his life insured
to onc't, d'ye see?"
"I see."
"Yes, gifs his life insured, an then.
sir, out he comes and begins shoutin'
his politics around right straight. Oh,
he was business, he was, I-tell ye!
Well, sir, 'twaren't mor'n half an hour,
from the time that fellow landed at
the station a poor man till the Insur
ance company was wrltin out a ch ck
fer a thousand dollars fer his widder.
It was the sharpest thing I ever fee.
Deng If I ever see such a plan! did
your
The stranger agreed most cordially
that It was a sharp trick. Indeed, but
added as he rose to see when the next
train would leave there that, unfortu
nately for him, he didn't have any
politics at all. and. what was more, be
had no wife. "Besides." said he
anxiously, "I'll I'll tell you straight.'
I don't crave wealth at all just now."
He Ran Up Acalnst a Dude.
"Jest stow them traps fur me, Jakr,"
requested One-Eyed Hank as he passed
his personal arsenal over the bar, "till
I call far em."
"Whater yer strlppin' yerself far.
Hank? Side?"
"Naw, tougfi as a mustang, but I ran
up agn a new kind er game. Thar's
a tenderfoot dude down ter th' hotel
spoutln' fur gold. Free silver's my
long suit, so I sets 'em up all 'round
eo's ter git Inter th' play. I puts In my
bluff, but th' dude kin chfn 'bout six
teen ter my one, an' I hain't 's good
as a two spot on the showdown. I
knows I'm trlmnd. so I come3 th' ale
aoage, an wnen ne says 1 m . . .
I claims he calls me a liar. Jest as
I'm goin' ter open th' ball he .yanks off
his goggles, ketches me slder th' head
an' knocks me th whole length of th'
joint Afore I kin pull Red Mike gits
th' drop on me an' says I can't shoot
no man what hain't armed, but tt.I
war Iookin' fur a rough-an'-tumble
he'd referee th' derbate. Gimme 'bout
four inches o' sarplnt juice an' I'm
goin' back to contln'e th' argyment,
fur they hain't no man kin best me In
a free-fur-alL"
Half an hour later Hank -returned,
looking as though-he -had been tat
tooed with an ice-pick and so limp that
a man at each arm was necessary.
"Did you do him, Hank?" asked
Jake, with a look of wonder at the
toughest man In the diggings.
"Never touched him. Couldn't git
anigh him. Thought he war a mark,
but he knocked me down faster'n I
could count. Every time th' dude bit
me I wished it war a mule klckln' me,
or jest a ord'nary man thumpln me
with a club. I'm suthin of a all-'roun
scrapper, but that thar jb kin whip
all the fellers like me you can load on
a frieght-train goin' down grade. He
licked me squar', Jake, an' I want yer
ter give It oat straight ter th' boys that
I'm a goldbug."
Maslc la Boomtown.
From the Boomtown Boomerang:
The musical and literary evening given
by the Sageville orchestra, with lady
soloists, in the ball over Bud Hickey's
saloon last eve, may well be called a
howl'-j; success, each number being
grcetrd with loud howls for more from
the audience. It Is many a day since
we have heard so much music ripped
out of a fiddle a3 Prof. Orlando P. C.
Pugsley ripped out of his fiddle last
night, and his accomplished and good
looking lady wife pounded some of the
sweetest melody out of the piano that
we ever heard pounded out of any
piano. She just made It get up and
hump, and In the duet for two persons
that they played together It was nip
and tuck when it came to jerking the
sweetest music out o' the two instru
ments. Such dash, smash, crash, bang
music ain't heard every day in these
parts. Then there wasn't anything slow
about the accordion and flute duet by
the professor's two daughters. Every
foot in the house was keeping time be
fore the young ladies had played three
minutes and some of the limber-legged
young folks even got up and waltzed
jp and down the aisles. But when the
whole orchestra of nine pieces got in
Us work the audience went wild, and
if anyone thinks Boomtown ain't cul
tivated up to appreciating good music
.hey'd just ought to have been in Hick
ey's hall last night when that orchestra
Jerked out "Sally and the Ham-Fat
Man." Talk about your Boston Sym
phony orchestras and Boston being the
musical center of the country; t's all
poppycock! There's as much musical
ste to the square inch here in Boom
.own as in any town in America, and -we'll
engage to lick the man who says
it ain't eo. And when it comes to
cocal singing. Miss Sadie May Yawp,
who sang "The Gypsy's Warning" last
.light, knocked the socks clean o.T a
Roman named Nordlca we heard sing
jack east last winter. It ain't often a
bang-up concert company strikes
Boomtown, but it gets appreciated
when It docs come.
Time i Mone
MfEIUYUG'l
THESHN
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