The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1870-12-07
than You see the husband lying in bed

nuuulcu up Win !iidtS duu Shlin, 'Ss' ho
some ruder breath of air should touch sill
him, fasting, kept in private, and for Fl
number of days abstaining religiously tn
from certain viands; You would swear to
il was lie who had had the child. / q
had read about this in old times, aud al
laughed at it, never thinking l could tt
believe such madness, and | used to al
suspect that this barbarian custom was CO
related more in Jest than in earnest;
but at last | saw it with my own eyes t.
among the Abironcs." ii
Brett, in his account of the Indian t
tribes of Guiana, SAYS he saw a man, d
whose wife had lately been delivered, /
| living in hammock, wrapped up as if t
he were sick, though really in the most q
robust health, ard carefully nursed by j
women. while the mother of the new
born infant was engaged i'll cooking
and other work about the hut. {
Traces of this custom are tnnnd IN
Greenland, where, after woman Is
confined. the husband must forbear
working for some weeks and in Kan
skatka. where for some time before the
birth of a baby the husband must do
no hard work. Similar notions arc
, found among the Chinese, among the
Dyaks of Borneo, and what is still
stranger is, that they exist to this day
: lin Corsica. in the north of Spain, and
in the south of France, where the Gus /
tom is called fare lie c0nrGde. Max
:, Muller. in his .'Chips from German
t Workshop" tries to account for it thus:
4 eft is clear that the poor hus baud was
at first tyranized over by his female re-
> lations. and afterward frightened into
4 snperstitution He then began to
"a make a martyr of himself till he made
f. himself really i'll, OF took to his bed in
=. self defense. Strange and absurd as
i the coarade appears at first sight, there
w is something in it with which, we be-
~ lieye, most mother-in-laws can sympa-
NJ tbize.' Sir John Lubbock, however,
nt prefers to accept the Curb and Abb
o. none explanation, which is that they
10 believe the infant would be injured in
N some way if the father engaged in any
rough work or was careless about his
1e diet.
nd With regard to the strange conduct
To toward mothers-in and fathers IN
- law which we have described as exist
tie ing so widely among savaSes, Sir John
Tn Lubbock, in his very curious ana en-
YES tertaing chapter on Marriage ana ke'
~ lationship,n gives plausible explana'
h G ton of the mystery.
,at The lowest races have on instltutloi
ith of marriage; true love is almost un
IDS known among them; and marriage, Ii
he its lowest phases, is by no means
70 matter of affection and companlonshlp
Ill The HottentOts, says kolben, ARE S
M cold and indifferent to one anothe
her that YOU would think there was no sue
cr; thing as love between them" ANON
r .n1f n,, ctAJI
nv that there is "no feeling OF love !
Wv, MARRIAGE In North America, til
how Time Indians had no word for "dcal
,sfs or ..beloved :" and the Algonquin lar
YES ouace is stated to have contained i
,lso verb meaning ssto love:'' so that whe
and the Bible was translated by the mi
ain sionaries into that language, it W;
pom necessary 10 ih'eh' "ei'
5 as purpose. cc,..,
;, sb saws Can't Levin, regard marriage
who n mere animal and convenient CONNIE
,yhn tion-as the means of getting The
.,rd dinner cooked. They have no idea
ohin tenderness. nor of chivalrous deyOto
,I.,cl, Among the heather Indians OF Pau
ircle quarry the bonds of matrimony are
flo very slight, that when the parties
man not like each other, they separ;
mall without further ceremony. In OIL
: the respects they do not appear to have
was most distant notions OF that baslit
a.; ness so natural to the rest OF mankl1
I'll, In very ancient times, when
90 of whole human race was In saw
ord condition. marriage was unknown
,-orv women were common property.
ss;ra chofen and McLennan, the two III
800 recent authors who have studied
: nnt subject. both agree that the primlt
:, "h III, condition of man socially was tina
-, communism, where, as at Oneida, eV
. '.,'; man and woman in small comm
! nf tv were regarded as equally Marie
=. tn =, one another. The same view is en-
( Nbom tained by an American writer,
and Lewis H. Morgan, of Rochester,
.tr,st- has made the primitive condition
h,st;- man special study for many yt
+n tho and whose chief work on the sun
n keen embracing the most extensive
shonld searches, is now in course OF pup
9 dove ton by the Smithsonian lnstltu
Ct any Sir John Lubbock, without ma
ear he access to Mr.. Morgan's invest'ga'
entire. except to very limited extent,
reached similar conclusions. lie
+or;s+;c cards communal marriage, IN W
cnrt,in woman were common TO the
f.nt.s- tribe, as the illSC stage VI ii'.iei'
~nt aI- ty, individual marriage, he tn
smnnc arose from captives in war. 1t Is
ct from Gus, he says, that even under COZ
'iar ' NO. nal marriage warrior who had
' ,r"a to t,lred beautiful girl in some ma
+ John ing eNpeuilioll Ho"ia ans;Ila
omnno set custom at defiance. 1t IS tru'
&; s'" oon, under communal system no
mo- could appropriate a girl entire
,ook Ut himself without infringing the
,han clio of the whole tribe. Such an act
10 .i him ~, it naturally be looked on with lea
Md turn and only regarded as justiiiable
nass hin, peculiar circumstances. A war
. th;rd tive, however, was in peculiar
one the ton; the tribe had no right t
o l,aw nor her captor might have killed her
:, ''' direct chose if he preferred to ke'
in law alive. he was at liberty to 90 $
~ pndaI did as he liked, and the tribe v
immedi- sufferer. nus aloSe ,+nar WOW
, ili-Will rage, WHICH III an! "'"e -