Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-10-21
LAPLAsD LovH.MAriHa

| en young gentleman in Lapland d..
s'rss r " assume new responsibilities be Laws in
large stock Of brandy, and his parent. go
t!ves and fr.ends meet in as great nn,.s IN
as pcsrioie, 10 treat the friends of the 49,
desired. Neither bride nor bridegroom is sIe
pccted to betray anxiety or interest In ~.
proceedings; the Arctic Mrs. Grundy, who h
! very strict in such matters, would be yerv
much scandalized If they should Besides
'he great mass Of relatives aud friends, of
aunts and fourth-cOusins, who must attend,
| mere Is . still greater number Of outsider,
VINO are attracted by their curiosity to see
whether any body gets the mitten The in
tensliy OF their curiosity il to some extent de.
Iermined 6y the amount of brandy circulating.
on the side Of the gallant, there Is { spokes
man called S0Snonatvs Brandy flask in
hand, be goes over TO the other marty and
cfers liquid hospitality to the father and mo.
ther of the young lady. This is a signal for
indiscrlminate attack Of q similar nature by
the entire invading party upon the ladvs
friends. Every body drinks to her father.
every body drinks to her mother, and she
herself is borne in grateful memory. Wbep
all are sufficiently elated the proposal is en-:
bodied In long speech, vibrating between
p1etry and prose. Her parents ask to see the
kileh, the wooins presents. If they are nc.
copied, the matter is settled, and there is no.
thing more to do bat TO 90 the next day 20 the
parson 70 get them published. Most matches
gre made at the fairs and great festivals, but
they are never made without brandy, In.
deed, "COurting with brandy is q proyerb
among Laplanders equivalent to the French
c3mmre IL fdut. When the lady is rich and
the suitor is not, he very often throw. his
brandy away. The influence in matrimonial
matters is nowhere felt more strongly than
here; dress counts for nothing; one sheen
skin IS as good as another. Rank is deter.
mined only by the number Of reindeer a man
mere bargain and sale. Still, the tapianders
recognise the sacredness of the relation in
their way. The silver which they pay for
their bride must not be in the shape of rix
dollars, it must be made up into ornaments
his IS better than nothing If n marriage is
broken of, the party who takes divorce gem
orally returns the bridal presents, and the
more conscientious add q gift for the wasted
brandy So, too, when the parents say no.
many are SO generous as TO pay for the bran
dy. As all the relatives have a word to say,
there is generally good deal of quarrelng
before the answer is agreed upon, and some
management is required, oftentimes to make
il favorable.
YastOr FJsllstrom tells Of q wedding in
Jockmock In which be was interested for the
Wooer Several attempts had been made in
vain before he was engaged as spokesman.
An old woman overwhelmed everything and
deafened everybody with opposition to the
mateh. When he came in che yelled out
- No, no, 1t shan't be; not even IL the flesh.
eaters son comes, he shan't have her I" FELL
strom, then a student, saw that nothing could
and whispered to a magistrate, who was alsc
enlisted on the same side, TO get the old wo-
man out of the way somehow or other. Soon
sic found herself in the street; she growled
about the door like gadly in an empty bar
rel, ratified and slammed, shrieked and swore
but could not get in, as the masistrato held
the door. Meantime the matter was success
fully concluded Fjellstrom had brought bet
ter brandy; his father was the parsou be
spoke better, and offered few more presents.
When they were ready to 60 the parson's g the
door was opened and the old hag rushed in;
but she was too late.
The importance Of having an influential
spokesman can hardly be over estimated.
lhey are often paid for their services. An
old affair came of in Aricploug at the last
falr An old widower, bearing the eupho.
NOUS name ef Styx, was struck with the crazy
hea-so all his country people thought it-of
making advances to the widow Of q foreigner,
who held her head above every body else in
the village, as her husband had been district
magistrate. Styx, who saw that the matter
would be one Of great difficulty, won't to the
richest man in the village, and begged him to
be his spokesman. He thought that his age
and standing would have their influence, and
offered him, in case Of success, a brass kettle,
which, like Homer's heroes, he described.
They could not agree, however: the desired
spokesman wanted the kettle at any rate,
while styx would give it to him IL be sue
ceeded. The whole party was remarkable;
Styx was seventy years old-his Dulcinea six
", and the spokesman over eighty. Although
Styx could not make the brass kettle bargain,
ne Kept his courage up, and resolved to do as
well as be could in person He went to her
and said you have COWS, L have reindeer
look at me; L am just like your frs: hus-
band, and more of the same sort. The whole
thing seemed so comic to the proud Sigrid
Stozada, that far from getting angry at the
poor fellows advances, she began to talk with
him, and kept him as long as possible in sus-
pense as to his fate. His efforts and his anxiety
continually rose in ridiculousness, until at
last dinner time came, and he got shameful
mitten