St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1891-10-03
INDIAN WOMEN OF DAKOTA


Their Marked Peeullarities and the 0lavlaA
Lives Thsy LsaA
In the frequent wsnderings Of the
Indian it is the woman who dnds the
fuel and carries it on her back to kin
die the fire and cook the food for the
mobile red man." she who pickets the
ponies. makes and breaks camp taking
the tcpees down and loading the
wagons, and performs all work which
we are accustomed to see performed BY
the men The man II merely orna-
mental with them, and It has been
their condition % long that there Il NO
thought of another state Of things nor
word of complaint
On the reservations, when they are at
home. they now have for each family .
small log house. and the women like
them better than the tepee, though we
nearly always see tepee standing near
the house, and also . summer house
built Of poles and green bougha. the
Same being used Is sleeping apartments
during warm weather. it being impos
sible for them to abandon entirely their
free, outdoor life. There Is . strange
fascination in their free. wandering
life, and those who have in any way
been associated with them. have been
impressed with the fact that it Is much
easier to fall into their ways Of living
than to convert them to ours
In the way Of work Il is wonderful to
see the beauty and originality of the
designs Of their artistic work, which
consists chiefly Of bead-work ON buck
skin or covering bottles Of all shapes
with their many-colored beads They
tan the 6uck-skin themselves and some
are adopts at the art Among them We
find excellent glove-makers and We
also to our cost find them usually very
keen. shrewd traders. having profted
by their advanced civilization in the
one particular at least Of learning the
value of o dollar. Under all circum-
stances we find them greatly opposed
to speaking the English language; not
even when they understand it perfectly
will they utter q word of it. The older
women, Of course. are without educa-
tion. except in q few instances where
they have acquired, by the aid Of some
educated younger person, q knowledge
Of reading in the Indian language.
Their amusements are few. They
have a great fondness for dancing and
bathing. In public they arc quiet and
retiring in manners, but in their homes
use more freedom of speech and action.
There have been essential changes In
the marriage customs in these days Of
schools and missionary work.
erA Formerly the bride was purchased
by the groom for ponies, cattle or gro
ceries, the amount paid varying accord
ing to the purchasers wealth, or the
brides worth or social standing, and
now though they are married in accord
ance with the rites of the church Of
which they are members. we cannot
say the morals have improved greatly
or that they are truer to the marriage
vows In their religion they are ear
nest and reverent worshipcrA At one
agency we visited there are three denom-
national churches. supported mainly
by the home missionary societies. each
church presided over bv q resident min
ister. The Episcopal, Presbyterian and
Catholic churches have large member
ship each. The Episcopal services seem
to have moro attractions for their rude
natures than q less formal service
Kate Carnes, in Chautauuuau.