Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-03-28

The Piute Fashion OF WOOing and Wed.
ding Young SquaWs.
From the San Francisco Call.

GXB
ding Young SquaWs.
From the San Francisco Call.
The narration by Sarah Winnemucca O how
Indian maidens were woOed and won the Piute
nation shows the strctness of that people in re.
gard to the mingling Of the sexes. The old
chiefs daughter gave the following account Of
a Piute courtship to a Call reporter few days
ago:
"When a girl reaches womanhood and her
family desire to indicate to the tribe that their
| daughter has reached the manageable PERIOD
| she makes her debut, as you say in English, but
the Piute girl comes out in entirely different
way from that adopted by her white sister,
Just before she reaches womanhood her grand
mother has especial charge of her. To that old
lady, whose years are supposed to have brought
wisdom, the girl is given. She schools her in
domestic duties. and explains to her the
nature and importance Of the wifely rela-
toli The girl then goes with two older fe-
male relatives to teepee, which is q
forms work which is supposed to be strengthen
ing. 1t consists chiefly OF piling wood. Three
times day, at morning, noon and night, she
stacks five piles of wood, making fifteen each
day. Every five days her relations take her to
the river to battle, and at the end of the time
she gives her clothing to her attendants and re-
turns to the family lodge. Very frequently the
wardrobe which she presents her female at
PENDANTS is quite extensive, and is regarded by
them as valuable present. When the young
girl has spent twenty-five days in the teepee,
She has made her debut into the society of her
tribe, and that is considered as public an
nouncement that she is ready to marry.
demand. lust as belle is in Your Society. a
girl with handsome face and fine black eyes
and flowing hair as black and glossy as q ravens
wing, and a wllowy. graceful form, is the OBJ
ject of great deal of attention from the young
men of the tribe, and often of the older men,
too. A lovely Indian girl is as much sought
no aS hes &c I'm
London drawing room. But, oh, how different
the two kinds of cOurtshlp are! We have no
go and get acquainted and court. The young
men and girls have no theater to attend, and no
long walks home after the play is over. They
never go riding together nor strOltng through the
woods along the river bank. They never idle
together in the canoe on the water, plucking
lilies and flowers. Although they seem to en-
joy much greater liberty to roam and wander
whithersOever the fancy may lead them, yet
they are kept as close as prisoners. Piute court
ship lacks freedom, and yet it is not devoid of
that intense excitement that attends lOve-mak-
ing the world over.
men would steal out of their lodges Of moon.
light nights and have candestine meetings, and
Woo in that way, but they never dare to do 1t.
never passes between them. But still girl
very soon knows when young man Is inter.
ested in her. He tries to catch her attention by
his horsemanship or his skill with the bow, or
his athletic accomplishments. He rides by her
at furious speed, and returns again and again.
forms her, although he does not speak a word,
that he loves her and would like to marry her.
But this does not comprise all of his courtship.
At night, when the Indians have retired to their
wigwams and are sleeping, the young man
rises from his bed of leaves and skins and goes
ae tine edgs 9sp and By the og girl he I
couch. A lodge is circular in shape, and at
night, when the inmates go to bed, they heap
brushwOOd and logs on the fire in the center Of
the tent, andthen lie down with their feet to-
ward the fire and their heads toward the out
side or circumference of the wigwam. The In
dams sleep on leaves and robes, and are COW
cred when sleeping with SKINS AS the young
man enters the lodge he can see by the freight
where the young girl is sleeping, and he goes
directly to her side, often stepping over other
sleepers, and sits down by her bed. 1t is Gus
tomary for the young girl to sleep near her
after the girl has made her debut. AS soon as
she sees the young man enter she awakens the
girl, who rises and goes to where her mother is
sleeping, and lies down beside her. AS soon as
she does this the young man rises and goes out
as silently as he came in.
Not word is spoken. He does not touch
the girl while he is sitting by her she sleeps
Her grandmother does not speak a word of en-
enlargement to him, neither does her mother
indicate that he is a welcome sutton. The next
night he comes again and takes up his position
beside the girl, and keeps this up for long
time. During all the time he is counting in
this way he is treated as an absolute stranger
by the girls relations. They may have enter
tanned him before he began his attention to the
girl; her brothers may have hunted with him
and shared the game with him. but when he
once begins to WOO the girl all familiarity and
friendship ceases. He is never invited to eat
OF food prepared by the family of the girl,
and her brothers never offer him any
thing on the hunt His presence is wholly
Ignored. If the girl does not like him she
tells her grandmother, and when the young
man comes again at night that good old lady
rises from her bed takes handful Of hot ashes
from the fire and throws them in his face.
That's the mitten. If he persists in his atten-
lions and continues to come again and again,
the whole family unite in heaping indignities
Is rar RI to
Her brothers and sisters and father and mother
throw ashes upon him, dOwse him with water,
fagellate him with stout switches, and drive
him from the lodge. Sometimes an Indian
persists in spite of such assaults, and goes
again and again to the tent where the girl is
sleeping. Sometimes his perseverance wins
her heart, but not often.
him, then she tells her grandmother, who in
forms the girls father. If the family think it is
suitable match, the father invites the young
man to the tent and asks him in the presence Of
the girl II he loves her and will take good care
OF her. Then the father asks the girl If she
loves the young man, and tells her the duties of
wife. If both say they love each other, the
do not talk together, neither do they go about
together. A day is fixed for the wedding. A
great feast Is prepared. The relatives Of the
girl and the young man sit around great camp
nre together, the young man and the girl SIT
ting side by side. The food is in baskets The
girl has carefully cooked basket of food for
her intended husband, and she hands it to
takes the basket with his left. That is the mar
riage ceremony. The girls father then pro-
nOunces them man and wife, and they 90 to a
lodge, where they live together"