The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1867-02-05
COURTSHIP IN GREENLAND.

There is something exceedingly melancholy
in the accounts which are given Of the custom
of courtsbip in Greenland. Generally, women
enter upon the blessed estate with more willing
ness and less solcitude than the men. The
women of Greenland are an exception to this
rule. A Greenlander, having fixed his affec'
tions upon some female, acquaints his parents
with the state of his heart They apply to the
parents of the girl and if the parties thus far are
agreed, the next proceeding is to appoint two
female ncgotators, whose duty it is to 5roach
! the subject to the young lady. The lady en-
bassadors do not shock the young lady by any
sudden or abrupt avewal of the awful subject of
their mission. Instead of this they LAUNCH ont
in praises of the gentleman who seeks her hand.
They speak of the splendor of his house, the
sumptuousDess of his courage in catching seals,
aud other like accomplishments The lady,
pretending to be afronted even at these remote
hints, runs away, tearing the rlnglets OF her hair
as she retires, while the ambassadors, having
got the consent of her parents, pursue her, drag
her from her coucealment, take her by force to
the house of her destined husband, and there
leave her. Compelled to remain there, she sits
for days with disheveled hair, silent and de-
jected, refusing every kind of sustenance, till at
last. if kind entreates do not prevail, she is com.
PEELED by force, and even blows, to submit to
the detested union. In some cases Greenland
women faint at the proposal of marriage-in
others they fyto the mountains, and only re-
turn when compelled to by cold and hunger
If one cuts off her hair, it sign that she in
tends to resist to death. All this seems so un-
natural to US that We seek for reason for such
an apparent violation of the first principle Of
human nature. The Greenland wife is the
slave Of her husband, doomed to life of toll,
drudgery and privation; and, if he die, she and
her children have no source against starvation.
The marriage state is miserable condition,
while widowhood is a still more appalling fate.
Coon ADvIcE.-John II. Prentiss, in his re-
cent valedictory, on retireng from the editorial
chair, which he filled for fcrty-one years, has the
following mo man should be without well
conducted newspaper he is far behind the spirit
of the age unless he reads one he is not upon
an equal footing with his fellow man who en-
joys such advantage. and shows disregard of
his family, in not offering them an opportunity
of acquiring knowledge of what is passing in
the world, AS the newspaper furnishes the cheap
est possible teaching. Show me a family with
out newspaper, and will venture to say there
will be manners of ignorance most strikingly in
contrast with the neighbor who allows himself
such rational indulgence. Young men, es-
pecially, should read newspapers. III were
boy even Of twelve years, would read a news
paper weekly, even though had to work by
torch lig ght to earn money enough to pay for it.
The boy who reads well will learn to think and
analyzc; and if so he will be almost sure to make
a man of himself-hating vicious indulgences,
which reading is calculated to beget a dislike
for.''