The Irish standard., 1886-05-01
QUEER WEDDING CUSTOMS.
The Australian Who yEoos His Bride
With a Gluh-The As;atic WAYS.

| The Australian Who yEoos His Bride
| With Glub-The As;atic Ways.
SIN Australia the native lover w'oos
his sweetheart with a club, in some parts
| of Asia he has to buy her Of her parents,
in others he has 10 steal her," said an
EngIishman who has travelled, in almost
every land, especially in the oul-of-the-
way places The Australian, when he
would we'd makes up his mind as to which
woman shall be his bride, and then hides
| iu the bushes, i'll the vicinity OF her dwell
| ing place AS soon as she comes near
where the anxious swain lies hidden, and
| if she is alone, he ponnces out upon her,
promptly and etTectually knocks her down
with the club, and carries her otf before
she comes TO- II he does not get her to
| his hut before she RECEIVERS. there is likely
| to be q lively fight in The bush, for the
Australian dansel is generally vigorous
| one, and she may have reasons OF her own
| for objectirg to the lovers efforts to win
her. The would-be bridegroom may then
| be obliged TO club her again. and us this
| is considered to 1,e rather q reflection on
| the artlor with which his earlier effort was
made, he generally puts as much soul and
muscle into his first love tap as he can
| summon.
When q resident of the Cape, Or Kaffir
| Land, ycarns for !. life partner, he has an
interview with the father of the lady. Ii
the old gentleman thinks well Of the
youth, and that he would do honor to
| him as son~in-law, he says:
s.We]l, can you give me two hundred
cattle for my laughter?"
That is, it may be two hundred or it
"a ~ n
values his daughter or appl>,ises the stock
owning or getting capacity of the pros
pective son-in-law. If the young Katfir is
| determined to wed the maiden whose hand
he seeks. he will always reply that he can
fill the bill as to cattle, 10 matter if he
hasn't enough on hand to make a good
sized dish Of hash, and never expects to
have. He'll fix that. There are plenty Of
Katfirs who have cattle galore, and he
gathers together a few congenial friends,
and they stroll over to some convenient
kraal OF a neighboring tribe, and walk
away With the requisite number Of cattle
to make the bridegroom happy. OF co1lrse
the owner Of the cattle usually raises very
strong objections to this exchange OF prop
erty and there may be a number of woolly
heads broken before the expectant bride
groom secures the herd. If lie gets them
all right to his kraal, that settles the mat
ter. The man who lost them knows that
other tribes have cattle, and that ne may
want 70 marry somebody himself without
having the necessary stock on hand to win
the bride. Then he will forage on his
neighbor in the same way. Thus is Hy-
mems torch kept lighted in Katfir Land.
In some parts Of Central Asia the bride
groom has g tough time in getting and
keeping possession of his bride. IN the
first place. he has to steal her, and if she
don't object to being stolen the couple may
get to the wedding place with whole Skins
for if she don't object she is not compelled
to give any alarm, aud the whole village
will not lc at their heels unless they are
discovered by accident while making off.
Il she gives all alarm the hride-stealer
must make his way hindered with the
struggling (iausel and followed by a crowd
Of yelling neiehbors. The wedding place
is the hut Of the young mans parents.
And there he must take his bride before he
can claim the right to her hand. II she
has not lungs enough to summon l'escuers
nor muscle enough to get away from the
lover before the hut is reached, then she
cam make no further protest against the
marriage. The bridegroom can't claim q
bride until he has ID hut Of his own to take
her to, and in taking her from his fathers
house to his own he has another gauntlet
to run. The brides friends. whether she
be Il willing bride ornot: have the right to
assemble and attempt to rescue her while
she is ell route. The bridegroom
throws his bride across his back She is
always covered with scarlet garment.
He is surrounded by number of
youth living in his village. and all the
BRIDES young lady friends in her village,
armed with stones and clubs batter and
pelt the bridal procession and fill the air
with fie1l1ish yells in their efforts to keep
the bride among them. The battle is
waged in earnest, and both bride and
groom are always covered with blood and
bruises even if they succeed i'll reaching
the boundary line of safety. This they
usually effect. If bridegroom fails to
get away with his bride he is com PEELED to
pay a ransom in cattle or other gifts to
her parents before she will be delivered
up to him.
In other places in Asia the question Of q
mans title to bride must be settled bya
fierce fight between the friends of the
contracting parties If the bridegroom's
forces are victorious, he has his inamorita
as trophy. If her friends are victorious
he must pay such price as the victors de-
mand. All over that country some cere-
mony Of violence Or physical powers must
precede g wrestling. In certain districts
there must be wedding match between
the bride and groom. If the man wins,
the woman must surrender herself to him.
If she wins, she has the option Of accept
ing him or not. Some native tribes COM
pei a foot race between the bride and
bridegroom to decide the question Of mar
riage. and others require long chase on
horseback.
They have interesting marriage cere-
monies in Norway and Sweden. The Gus
tom among the Swedish peasants is ex-
droll.
Vinegar is Cheap.
A sign in {, Third avenue grocery win
low reads :tPure Russet Cider, 1 cents O
Quart"
s:That cider was never moved by & breath
,f country air, said a man in a blue check
jacket, who was passing the window
yesterday, ssand it was never any nearer
III apple than it is now as it stands in the
oarrel at the rear Of the grocery"
s'Made Of sulphuric acid and glucose,
hen," suggested st companion.
s.No, that's too expensive"
s'What is it made OFF,"
T " i,, 3ho c1,0 x1,1n,