Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-06-09
Misfellaueuns &eading.
INDIAN WIVES.

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INDIAN WIVES.
HOW THE ABoR1G1NE MA1DENs WED WHITE
MEN-THE PRICE OF GOOD WIFE.
Among the Northwestern tribes of Indians
innocence is as marked among the girls
as their color The impression that the
red maiden does not entertain high stand.
ard of morality is an error, for she is taught
as other girls are, and grows up with we'll.
developed ideas of the responsibilities of life
and firm resolution to discharge them. Ed.
ucated in the faith that she was ordained to
work, she trains herself to undergo hard
labor, and at sixteen years of age is sturdy
and strong, brave against fatigue and per-
feet housewife. She may not possess New
England notions of cleanliness, but she takes
not little pride in her personal appearance,
and in the arrangement of her lodge she dis
plays some crude ideas of taste and certain
amount of neatness. If she marry white
man, she makes good wife as long as she
lives with him. His home is her sole comfort
and his comfort her ambition. She thinks of
him and for him and makes it her study to
please him and make him respect and love
her. She recognizes in him one of a superior
race, and by her dignity and devotion en-
dears herself to- him and struggles to make
him happy.
At the agencies of the upper frontier, thou.
sands of men are employed, and it is not an
exaggeration to say that the majority of them
have Indian wives and live happily. They
are not sought after by the maidens, for the
Indian girls custom is to remain quiet until
the marriage contract is made and the mar.
riage portion paid over. The husband must
have the dowry, with which he must invest
his projected mother.in. law before the cere.
mony takes place. The process is little out
of the usual run, and description may be Of
interest. The aspiring bridegroom must be
we'll known in the tribe before he can hope to
win wife. Her people want to thoroughly
understand him and know if he can support
not only her, but also her relatives in the
event of a pinch. He must be kiud.heart-
ed man with temper warranted to keep in
any domestic climate, and he must have
good lodge and at least half dozen horses.
If he be, and have all these, he can wooing
60. Selecting the lady, he makes applica-
ton to her mother, and at council the price
is fixed upon. If the grl.be especially pretty,
her mother will demand gun, two horses
and lot of provisions, blankets and cloth
A gun is valued at $50, and he must furnish
material to bring the amount up to from sl0O
to $3.50. Then he tries to beat the dame down
and if he succeeds, be knows there is some
reason for letting the girl 60 !; if not, he under
stands that he is making good choice. The
courtship is left entirely to the mother. She
communicates the intelligence to the bride.
elect, who dutifully sets upon preparing the
lodge for the nuptials. Relatives and friends
congregate, form a circle, pound drum and
have feast, at the conclusion Of which the
man and girl stand up. A blanket is thrown
over their heads, under which they exchange
vows of fidelity, after which the mother bless
es them, and the ceremony is complete. But it
fares badly with man who plentifully stocks
bis wedding lodge. His wife will give away
everything he gives her, and the stores in.
tended to lasta month will disappear in an
hour. He, if he be called cautious, will give
her barely enough to eat until he teaches her
economy, lesson once thoroughly learned
she never forgets. For some little time af
ter the wedding, the wly-made relatives
haunt the happy lodge, demanding that they
be feasted and cared for. Woe unto him
who accedes in the slightest. A firm refusal,
we'll persevered in, is all that will save him a
life of misery.
According to prairie law it is disreputable
in a white man to abandon his dusky wife
until she has grown too old TO work for him.
Then he may send her back to her tribe if he
so elect. The obligation. upon the wife is diff
ferent. She may not desert the husband for
another white man; but she may leave him
for an Indian who wants to marry her, pro.
vided she have no children. If the squaw
desires to abandon her husband, the Indian
of her choice must pay back the price origi-
nally paid to her mother. He may abate no
jot or title, and it is in such payment that
the divorce is perfected. She then becomes
a single woman, free to marry, but she can
not live in the vicinity occupied by her for
mer husband. She must move away with
her new venture Such divorces are not in
frequent 1t is difficult thing for the squaw
to perfectly adapt herself to her white hus
band. He may be of the kindest disposition !;
but his ways are not her ways, and she strug
giles with all her strength to draw closer to
him and try to make her existence part Of
his. She cannot make him one of her kind,
and she drifts away from him. The birth of
children directs her thoughts into new chan
mel and lessons the chasm between them,
but without them he has but little hope Of
keeping her to himself Sooner or later she
will find her afinity.-&. Louis Globe.
MORE CORRUPTION AT WASHINGTON.
The investigation of the accounts and con.
duct of O. L. Pitney, custodian Of the Treas