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then goes up to a little table, where a reader stands with a tiny ladle always replenished with wine and water, intended as a sort of rinsing after the eucharist, and tiny loaves of bread, from the sides of which the morsels of bread used in the celebration were cut out with the spear. He lays on the salver an offering according to his ability, and employs himself in private devotions until the rest of the people have received the sacrament. The priest having concluded the liturgy, is at liberty to perform a short special service of thanksgiving for the spiritual comfort received, and to present the cross to be kissed.*

Religious people in Russia pass really fatiguing lives, if they attend all the services of the church. When young they must learn the short catechism, the Lord's prayer, the Nicene creed, the ten commandments, the hymn to the Holy Ghost, the Russian version of "Hail Mary," the hymn of praise to her, the morning and evening prayers before and after meat, the stories from the Old Testament, and the history of the Lord. There is no such ceremony as confirmation in the Greco-Russian Church ;t the next step after baptism is communion, which the child receives twice a year until it is seven years old; then it is taken to confession, and receives a month's preparation from the priest for attending communion in church. After this the child ought to attend all the stated services when practicable-vespers, matins, and

mass.

This endless routine of ceremonies and rights, with occasional exhortations from the priest, constitutes the religious training of the mass of the Russian people. They fast more than any other christians. There is the great fast or lent, which lasts forty-nine days; the Assumption fast, which lasts from the 1st of August to the 15th; the Petroffsky, which extends from Trinity Monday to St. Peter's day, (the 29th June,) and consequently differs in length, according to the time when Easter falls; and the Christmas, or Philip fast, which lasts from St. Philip's day (the 15th November,) to Christmas day. Besides these there are the Wendesdays and Fridays through

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out the year, except during certain weeks called "Sploshnaïa weeks," an untranslatable term. The Russians hold carnival for a week, called "butter-week," before the beginning of lent, which is on the Monday after Quinquagesima, but meat is not eaten for the last time until Sexagesima Sunday. During butter-week Russia is a scene of wild enjoyment. In the large cities there are morning and evening performances at the operas and the theatres, public ice-hills, fairs with shows, circuses, conjurers, and acting in the open squares; visiting, driving in sledges, private theatricals, costume balls and other amusements are resorted to, and no business is done. The recklessness of the Russian character is fully illustrated at this season. The Russians enjoy furious driving and violent exercise, such as sliding down ice-hills at such a pace as to render the feat dangerous, and building citadels of hard-beaten snow to be attacked by one party and defended by another, the weapons used being blunt old swords, dead dogs, cats, hens, &c., and snowballs. In this last amusement, the mayor and city officials take part, and the vanquished are compelled to treat the victors to refreshments at the nearest tavern. The probability is, that such violent exercises and such complete surrendering of themselves to wild excitement at this season, are safety-valves for the long pent-up spirits of the people. Under so long a course of tyranny of the most brutal description, the Russian has become a being in whom all self-respect and independence of character has been stamped out; and it will take a long time for him to retrieve his humanity under the more enlightened government which now exists. The Emperor Alexander, has done much towards bettering the condition of his people. The abolition of serfdom on the imperial domains was a grand step, giving emancipation to twenty-two millions of peasants, but there is much more to be done in training them to be men. This is a work in which a well-educated and enlightened clergy would be the most effective agents, and it is to be hoped that with the rapid means of transit now springing up everywhere, even in the heart of Russia, that ancient and semi-barbarous nation may be brought into direct contact with all the civilizing influences of modern science.

The Russians possess many noble qualities, which only need development and cultivation to place them in the foremost rank; but an unenlightened church is an anachronism which cannot stand much longer. There is so little real fundamental difference between the tenets of the GrecoRussian and the Latin churches that a union of the two would not be impossible. It is within the range of probability that something of the sort may be effected before very long; and for the sake of civilization, as well as religion, such a result is to be anxiously wished for by every friend of humanity.

The inter-communion between the Russian and the Anglican churches has never been broken off by any open act of either party, although the Greek patriarchs have for centuries ceased to hold intercourse with the British prelates. The separation has arisen mainly from each having erroneous notions of the other, or, in other words, knowing very little of each other. There are parties in the Anglican church for whom the glittering, showy ceremonial of the Russian church would prove attractive, and there are many more to whom it would be repulsive.

ART. IV.-1. History of the Female Sex. BöTTIGER. 2. History of Women. 2 vols., 4to.

ALEXANDER.

3. Les Femmes. 3 vols. SEGUR. 1802.

1779.

It is seldom agreeable to argue with the ladies; to refute them is ungallant, and to pass censure on them is odious. Sometimes, however, they have to be argued with, refuted, and even censured, for their own good. We cannot but regard the present as one of these occasions; for we hold that the "woman's rights" movement is no honor to our civilization, but rather discreditable. If its tendency were to improve the condition of the sex, none would give it more hearty support than ourselves; it is precisely because it has the opposite tendency that we oppose it.

If we are wrong in this, a question or two may produce a train of thought that will aid in explaining the fact. We.

therefore, ask, what is woman most esteemed, loved and honored for? Is it for her boldness? for her courage? for her independence of man, or for her readiness to compete with him publicly, late and early? In other words, is woman most endeared to man in proportion as she is like himself? Do men prefer women who are masculine to those who are feminine, or womanly, in their habits and manners ? It may be replied that there are a class of men who do. Those who want their wives and daughters to work and earn for them, value them, not in proportion as they are modest, timid and gentle, but in proportion as they are strong and willing to use their strength for the common benefit. But among this class there need be no clamor for woman's rights; the women have an undisputed right to do everything that is coarse and unwomanly. It is not necessary to go back to the savage state for illustrations of this; a tour among the poorer classes of the peasantry in any country of Europe would furnish abundance. The tourist would readily discover that women may work in the field from sunrise till sunset; that they may go out before their husbands in the morning and remain out after them in the evening; that those who have no husbands may work in the field as long as they are able, side by side with men, and get as much pay as men, when they perform as much labor. But are the women proud of all this? Do they boast of their equality with the men, or have they cause to boast? Do they excite the envy of the wives and daughters of their landlords or employers because the latter are such tyrants that they prefer doing the rougher work themselves. This, perhaps, will serve to explain why it is that the theory of "woman's rights" has so few votaries even in the most romantic countries of Europe.

But the peasant women are not merely allowed the right of doing every sort of work; they are also allowed the right of advising their husbands. Nor is this anything new or exceptional; it is no "modern improvement." Among all the principal races of mankind, "woman's rights" were fully conceded by the most barbarous. It may seem incredible many that it was the most barbarous who were most

to

liberal in this respect; but such, nevertheless, is the fact. The ancient Germans* and ancient Gauls † alike engaged in no important enterprise without consulting their wives.‡ There is no part of Guizot's excellent History of Civilization more interesting than that in which he shows, from the testimony of numerous historians, that woman's rights were well understood among our rude ancestors, both Teutonic and Gallic, more than two thousand years ago.§ True, the historian does not call the privileges enjoyed by the ladies of those distant ages "woman's rights." Cæsar and Tacitus, as well as Guizot, were evidently of opinion that the women of those times would have been much better off had their "rights" been somewhat more limited than they were; and there is good reason to believe that the women themselves, accustomed as they were to compete with men, even in the field of battle, would willingly have surrendered several of their "rights" in exchange for just such tyrannical treatment as their fair posterity are so solemnly and vehemently protesting against at the present day.

But this is not the only evidence of the short-sightedness of our woman's rights advocates. They would have the world believe that they are in advance of the age, but we can assure them that only the credulous and silly part of the world believe any such thing. It is idle to deny that the intelligent and thoughtful regard them, at best, very much in the

The ancient Germans regarded woman as something holy and inspired, and consulted her accordingly as an oracle that seldom, if ever, was mistaken in regard to the future. We quote the words of Tacitus: "Inesse quinetiam sanctum aliquid et providum putant.”—De Moribus Germanorum, c. 8.

† See Cæsar De Bello Gal. 1. vi., c. xix., et seq.

When Hannibal complained that the Gauls had done wrong to his countrymen, they replied that if the Carthaginians felt themselves aggrieved they must present their case to the Gallic women:

"Les Gaulois consultaient les femmes dans les affaires importantes; ils convinrent avec Annibal que si les Carthaginois avaient à se plaindre des Gaulois, ils porteraient leurs plaintes devant les femmes gauloises, qui en seraient juges.”—Mém. de l'Académ. des Inscript., t. xxiv., p. 374; Mémoire de l'abbe Fénel.

It is well known that even the North American Indians regularly and carefully consulted their wives.

"Les Hurons, en particulier, consultent soigneusement les femmes."—Charlevoix, Hist. du Canada, pp. 267, 269, 287.

§ Hist. de la Civ. en France, vol. i., pp. 215-225.

The most degraded tribe of the Siberian women enjoyed woman's rights to

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