The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-03-20
QUEER COu4rSHln.
How the Young Men of Cape Breton
Woo and Win Their Wives. ..-

VOO anu WIN hINoss
Courtship is by no means necessary
preliminary to marriage. To begin at
the beginning: When a young man
decides that he will marry, he often
first builds a house; and it is no trivial
matter here, where most of the lumber
IS sawn by hand in a pit. A man may
be said to be in earnest when he begins
his suit with months of such hard labor
and that, too, from u dlsinterested
motive, not having the faintest idea,
perhaps, as to who will be the mistress
of the house. We saw a number of
such eXpectant buildings, IN all states
and of many ages; for some, failing TO
get tenant, stood without windows or
doors, the image of a desolate and
empty heart John -, young, man D.,
duly prepared and determinedt1 marry,
had set out the previous week with his
spokesman to get a wife. H had no
particular preference for any one, but
they decided to go first to the house of
Mary -, one of the brightest girls of
the parish, whom he had often noted,
but with whom he had never spoken.
When they entered the house, a hint of
their object was given to Mary, and
she retired from the sitting The
spokesman then delivered his speech,
in which he praised the personal quail
ties, the fortune. the social position,
of his friend, and asked the hand of
Mary for him. As the father had no
objection to the offer, he at once
consented to leave the matter to his
daughter. She was called in, and the
spokesman conferred quietly awhile
with her in a corner, and she consented
to the marriage. The spokesman then
led her out to the middle of the floor,
and John came from his corner and
took her by the hand thus the econ
tract was accepted, under the usual
penalty of FORGETTING twenty dollars in
case the engagement was broken. The
evening was spent in dancing; but if
any of the deacons had had wind of the
affair, it is probable that they would
have come and changed the festivity
into a prayer-meeting.
The young man afterward engaged
the priest to publish the banns for the
first and last time on the following
Sabbath. ButMary had her own plans
in all this she knew that the affair
would reach the ears of Sandy -,
for whom she had strong preference,
and perhaps bring him promptly to
proposal. Sandy did come, and the
upshot of it was that he and his father
went late on Saturday night, reused
the priest, and had Sandy's name sub
stituted in the banns for that of appli-
cant number one. .s. fs..
This new shutting of the cards was
common enough, SO that it caused but
passing smile among the friends of
the parties most interested. But GER
tain young man who heard the banns
went home in such depression that he
asked his father for ten dollars. When
questioned, he explained that the
girl whom he had always intended to,
marry was to become the bride of
Sandy -, and he was going away to
the States. ''Well, and why don'tye
carry her off and marry her yersep,
Malcolm? I'll give we the upper farm
this minute. Go, get yer brother, see
the girl and bring her home here.
Well keep her safe" Now, it hap
pened that Malcolm was the richest of
the three applicants, besides being, l
will suppose for charity's sake, good
fellow. Suffice it to say that they
brought the girl home bag and bag
gage, by stealth, that Sunday night,
and mounted guard that prevented
the success of any strategem on either
her part or the part of others, and
they were married on the following
Tuesday.
These persons were by no means of
the lower ranks; the girl was described
to me by an old fisherman as ''noble-
minded lookin' girl, sir; fine speci-
men of the Highland craft A man
is all the more highly esteemed for such
a feat. The rejected fellow does not
lose heart; he generally keeps on with
his negotiations, day after day, house
after house, until he finds a partner.
An intelligent woman, while admit
ting the general predominance of
worldly interests in these matters, and
the suddenness with which marriages
were very often made, said that unhap-
py families are nevertheless rare among
this people.
The domestic life of the couple even
to-day in most of the peasants homes
will be exceedingly primitive; the
woman will do the spinning, weaving
and knitting required by the family;
and the man will make nearly every
thing needed in the house and on the
farm. A farm and family will require
about two hundred dollars worth of
feed, food and sundries, and this
amount represents the average pro-
duction of the little farms of Cape
! Breton, together with the fishing that
many do at odd times. In the spring,
actual want is sometimes felt by many
families until fishing begins and the
cows give milk once more. But the
island is generally free from paupers.-
C. II. Fa'7'hana. in Harper's Magazine.