THE CZARINA'S MAIDS OF HONOUR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5739, 5 December 1896, Page 3

THE CZARINA'S MAIDS OF HONOUR.

An interesting account of the Russian Empress's maids of honour is given in a recent number of Le Figaro. The girls selected for the office become at once their own mistresses, though subject to the laws of a fixed and unalterable court etiquette. Even at sixteen, the lowest age at which they can appear at court, they may adorn themselves with diamonds or cover themselves with jewels like a saint's image. They are entitled, whatever their social position, to be present at ceremonies, from Avhich in most cases their families are excluded. When a girl is selected she begins by • becoming a maid of honour "with the cipher," and wears on her left shoulder the Empress's monogram embroidered on a light blue ribbon. It has been said that at the Russian court the oldest nobles are in reality nothing but higher slaves, ruled as much as the lowest of peasants by the autocratic will of the sovereign. The wearing of the cipher may be only a sign of an earlier The costume which the maids wear on state occasions is gorgeous. It consists of a skirt, of white satin, fastened from throat to feet with jewelled, buttons. Over this is worn an overskivt of red velvet with gold figures, and a long train and with wide pagoda sleeves. Tho most characteristic part of the costume is the headdress, a kind of diadem called kakochnik, recalling by its shape the sieplianc of the ancient Samoycde Junos. The kalcochnik with the 2mvonik, which aristocratic nursemaids still wear in St Petersburg and Moscow, is the only part of the great Russian costume borrowed for the national dress. It is of red velvet like the tunic, and covered with jewels. To it is attached a long white veil of tulle, which sweeps behind in the gilded folds of the train. This splendour lasts only for a time, however. After a few years the maid of honour " with the cipher " is promoted to a maid of honour " with the portrait," and exchanges the rich crimson overskirt for one more quiet, of emerald green embroidered in silver. To make up for it the Czarina allows the substitution of her portrait set in diamonds for the *nonograms. Sometimes also they receive the decoration of St Catherine, an order established by Peter the Great for women only, as a recompense for services done to the court. '. As a general rule it is from among the daughters of general officers or high functionaries that, the Empress picks out her maids at her own pleasure. There are .several institutions in Russia for the education of these girls, resembling somewhat the schools of the Legion of Honor in France. The classes for the older girls are called nurseries. The pupils are there taught etiquette and the faultless manners on which their future depends. Their costume is a simple woollen dress, with a silken apron. ' The upper part of the waist and the lower part of the sleeves can be detached, however, and when the Czar, the absolute master of these establishments, which he supports from his own privy purse, appears unexpectedly, the young shoulders and arms are at once laid bare. It must be a charming sight. The late Emperor Alexander 11. is said to have taken particular delight in it.