The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-11-12

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as III he were sick, though really In the most ro.
bust health, and carefully nursed by women, Whlies
the mother Of the new born infant was engaged
In cooking and other work about the hut.
Traces OF this custom are found In Greenland.
where, after woman is confined, the husband
must forbear working for some weeks; and IN
Kamschatka, where for some time before the birth
OF baby the husband must do no har,l work.
Similar notions are found among the Chinese,
among the DyaE5 OF Borneo, and what Is still
stranger Is that they exist to this day IN Corsica,
In the north OF Spain, and IN the south OF france,
where the custom Is called Jal1s le co,pade: Max
Muller. In his "ChIps from q German Workshop "
tries to account for 1t thus: sIt is clear that the
poor.husband wa1 at frat tyranized over by his
female relations and aiterwar0 frightened lnte.
supers,itIon He then began 20 maze q, malssE rSs
to his bed In self.defence: Strange and aos1ra as
the couvade appears at frat sight, there is some
thing In 1t wltn which, we believe most mothers:
in .aw can sympathize." Sir John Lubbock, how
ever, prefers to accept the 1Carib and Abipone'
explanation, which Is, that they belieye the infant
would be inbred In some way If the father, en-
gagged in any rough work or was careless OF hls
dler. 10 'sa 20 I.'TG q ~ iti'.I'
With regard to the strange conduct toward
mothersin.law and fashers.in.law, which we
have described as: existing 80 widely among
saYages, Sir John Lubbock, IN his very curious
and entertaining chapter on Marriage and Re-,
iatIonship," gives q plausible explanation OF the
mystery. .,.,
riage; true love Is almost nnEno%n among IL, tnem;
means q matter Of affection and compantonship.
The Hottentots, saysi iKObenp t'are so cold ana m
different to one another that youorWould thin
there was no such thing as love between tnem.c,
Among the Koussa Kafirs, Llchtenstein asserts
that there Ia mo feeling OF love in marriage" IN
North America, the Time Indians had no Wordlfor
Hdear'' or "beoved;" and the. Algonquin, Ian
is stated to have no
was translated. by the missionaries INTO
that language, It was necessary to invent g
word for the purpose
tain Levin, regard marriage as mere animal,
and convenient connection-as the means OF get.
ting their dinner cooked. They have no idea OF
tenderness nor OF chYairOus devotion. Among
the heather Indians OF Paraguay the sponds Oh
matrlmony are 30 very slight, that when the par,
ties do moi like each other they separate without
further ceremony. In other respects:they do not
appear TO haye'the most distant notions OF fhat
6ashfulness 80 natural to the rest OF mankind.
In very ancient times, when the whole human
race was in a,savage condition, marriage was nn-
known and women were common properly
Bachofen and McLennan, the two most recent au:
th0rs who have studied this suo)ect, DJtu agree
that the primitive ebndit on or man socially was
that OF communism, where, as at oneida, every
man and woman In a small community were re-.
garded as equally married TO one anotner. !ne
same view Is entertained BY an american NV mIiser a.
made the primitive condition OF man 9. speclal
study for many years: and whose cnief Mork On
the subect,r embracing the most extensive
tion by the Smithsonian Institution. Sir John
Lubbock, without having access to Mr: MOI:
gan's 'sinvestiga,ions, except to q very llmiteo
extent, has reached similar conclusions. lie re-
cards communal marriage, In which women were
Common to the whole tribe, as the first stage OF
human society,". Individual marriage ne THINKS,
arose from captivcs In war II is obvious, ne
SAYS that even under communal marriage WEI
rior who had captured beautiful gll acmtag III sTg
right to her and, when possible, would set Gus
tom at defiance. 1t is true that, under com;
munal system, no man could appropriate g,r, a
entirely 70 himself Witho9s ,nrlngipg onIG rns
naturally be looked on With jealousy, and
only regarded as justifiable under peculiar cir
cumstances. A war captive, however, was 10
peculiar position; the tribe mad NJ right 70 eL;
her cantor might have killed her II he chose; II ne
preferred 10 keep her alive, he was at liberty TO 40
80: he did as he liked, and the tribe was no suffer-
er. Thus arose individual marriage, which IN any
other way would have been an lniringemens Ga s1
our own day among the Andamanersy any woman
who attempted to refuse tue marital privileges
claimed by any member Of tne'tribe was liable TO
severe punishment. ~.
OF marriage s sindependent OF all sacred and social
considerations; that 1t had nothing TO 10 Win
mutual affection or consent; tnas ~ @ Was ihSan h
aruse not from affection or tenderness, ont oy
brutal violence and unwilling submission Ia all
parts Of the world, In all ages, and even among
Overwhelming that wiyes were procured by force
and by capture from Oih her tribes. And after
actual hostillties had ceased and marriage In It's
present form had been Instituted. tle ceremony
was kept up OF capturing, or pretending to cap:
ture. the bride. This ls the case among nearly an
the aboriginal races OF Hndostan, among the
Wild tribes OF the Malay peninsula, among tne
CalmucSs, the Mongols, and dnalIy among
great number OF South American tribes. 1t pre-.
yas also In some OF the islands OF Polynesia, and
In various parts of Arica- ry2
In Circassia, to this day, an Important part OF
the marriage ceremony consists 10 the rushing IN
of tile bridegroom, attended by number OF
young men, VINO carry of the bride by force. Plu.
Iarct tells us that In Sparta the bridegroom
usually carried of his bride by fosce--as mere
ceremony, however. The Romans had very
similar custom. And In some parts OF France,
down 10 the seventeenth century, twas custom
ary for the bride to feign reluctance to enter the
brIdegroOm's house. ln Poland, Russia, aod paris
OF Prussia, young men used to carry on their
sweethearts by force, and then apply 70 tne pa
rents for their consent.
The fact Is, that marriage by capture, either as
stern reality or as an important ceremony, pre-
wills In AUSTRALIA ana among tue mdIhys, III
HIndostan, Central Asia, Siberia and Kamscnatka
among the EsquimauX, The Northern Indians, the
aborgnes OF Brazil, Chill and Terra del Fuego; IN
the Pacific Islands, both among the Polynesians
and the Feejeeans in the PHILIPPINES, among the
Arabs and Negroes In OIrcassia, and until recent.
ly, prevailed throughout great part OF Europe.
The custom OF lifting the bride over the door.
step, which we find in such distant and different
races as the Romans, the Canadian lndiuns, the
Chinese and the Abyssnlans, had doubtless the
same origin. Hence also, perhaps our money
moon, during which the bridegroom keeps his
bride away from her friends and relatives; hence
even, perhaps, as Mr.. McLennan supposes, the
slipper is In mock anger thrown after the depart
The curious custom which forblds the father
and mother-ln-law to speak to their son-in-law,
and vice versa, which we haV. shown above to be
very widely distributed, but for which no salts.
factory explanation has yet been given, seems TO
be natural consequence Of marriage BY capture.
When the capture was reality, the Indignation
OF the parents would also be real; when IT became
a mere symbol, the parental anger would be sym.
bolized also, and would be- continued even AFTER
Its origin was forgotten. r........ -
F1L1aorEs REsPECTING WOMEN.
.fyiro