Daily globe., 1881-05-15
INDIAN WIVES.
How the AbOrigine Maidens Wed
White Men-The Price Of a Good
Wife.

How the AbOrigine Maidens Wed
White Men-The Price Of q Good
Wife.
From the st. Louis Globe -Democrat.]
j Among the Northwestern tribes of In.
dlans innocence is as marked among the
girls as their color. The impression that
the red maiden does not entertain q high
standard of morality is an error, for she
IS taught as other girls are, and grows
! up with ell-developed ideas Of the re-
! sponslbiities of life anda firm resolution
to discharge them. Educated in the
faith that she was ordained to work, she
trains herself to undergo hard labor, and
at 16 years Of age is sturdy and strong,
brave against fatigue, and perfect
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
displays some crude ideas of taste and a
certain amount of neatness. If she mar
ry awhite man she makes him 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 q superior
race, and by her dignity and devotion
endears herself to him and struggles to
make him happy.
| At the agencies of the upper frontier
thousands 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. Indians girls
custom Is to remain quiet until the mar
| riage contract is made and the marriage
portion paid over. The husband must
have the dowry, with which he must in
vest his projected mother-in-law before
the ceremony takes place The process
is little out of the usual run, and de-
scription may be of interest.
| The aspiring bridegroom must be well
known In the tribe before he can hopeto
!. win a wife. Her people want to thor
oughly understand him and know ii he
can support not only her but also her
relatives in the event of pinch. He
must be a kind hearted man, with tenn
per warranted to keep in any domestic
climate, and he must have good lodge
and at le asst have dozen horses. II he
be, and have all these, he can a-wooing
go. Selecting the lady, he makes appli-
cation to her mother and at council the
price is fixed upon.
If the girl be especially pretty her
mother will demand gun, two horses
and lot of provisions, blankets and
cloth. A gun is valued at $50, horse at
$40, and he must furnish material to
bring the amount up to from 500 to
$3.50. Then he tries to beat the dame
down, and if he succeeds he knows there
is some reason for letting the girl go; If
not, he understands that he is making
good choice. The courtship is left en-
tirely 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
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
blesses them, and the ceremony is COM
plete. But it fares badly with a man
who plentifully stocks his wedding
lodge. F
His wife VIII give away everything he
gives her, and stores intended to last a
month will disappear in an hour. He, if
he be called cautious, will give her barely
enough to eat until he teaches economy,
a lesson which once thoroughly learned
she never forgets. For some time after
the wedding the newly-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 well persevered In is all that will
save him life of misery.
According to prairie law it is disreputa-
BILE in 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 obliga-
ton upon the wife is different. She may
not desert her 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 squaw
desires to abandon her husband, the
Indian of her choice must pay back the
price originally paid to her mother.
He may abate no jot or title, and it is
in such payment that the divorce is per-
fected. She then becomes single
woman, free to marry, but she cannot
live in the vicinity inhabited by her
former husband.