The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1900-10-27
WHER BOSSES
'PlJ EBLOS INDIAN WOMEN HAVE
E7RIylLEGES. l8Sr !.


nights and privileges greater than thloss
Of her more civilized sisters. Practical
TX az. al property both real and personal,
belongs 81 On to the women and they alone
can can dispose of t. The crops III the
fn tslldtl are the special charge Of the man
of the house, but only so long as they
are II IN the ground When the harvest
Is Is gathered and brought in 5it becomes
tne W Y On property and the man can
not dispose of lit, even in the way sof,. a
/ soclal e. tainment or feast, without
nrst curing the Wife's consent No
case mas ever been known where man
has mas attempted to override these ar
"a r,aalngemesnts and assume control for the
result tI would be expulsion from the
family tamil and probably also, from the
tribe. When a man marries he goes to
the ia house OF his wife's people and his
standing there. is so peculiar and SO in
sect secure, as it were, that he dares not at
tempt to break through the rules which
B nave ma governed him and his ancestors
for many general ions. B
,5, | In fact, the standing of man in his
Wlfe's= household is but. little better
than that of an honored guest. The
Pueblos. like all the other Indian
tribes, are organized on the clan sys-
tem-that is, the descenda real or
supposed, of a common ancestor cOnsti-
tute a family group, named after some
animal or some object; like the Rat
2tlesnake gems, the Corn people and so
on. But descent is reckoned only in
the female line, and the children, there
fore, always belong to the mothers
gems By an ancient rule, still OBJ
served, marriage within the gems is not
permitted. Thus it comes about that
the man is, as it were, Gin the house
of his enemies" for in any difference
OF opinion the whole house is against
him. - "%
Each gems, or huge artificial family,
lives by itself in the village, all of it's
houses, being connected with each 9th
er, but not with those Of any: other
gems. The houses of, the Pueblos are
arranged in long rows, or in beehive
like clusters, the rooms being placed
one above the other, so as to form ter
races like a great stairway. When a
family increases new rooms are built,
but, they always adjoin and are con-
snected with those already standing.
There is no way, therefore, in which
man can escape the dominating influ-
.ences of his wife's people. The gems
sometimes numbers 500 members or
more, all animated by the same mo-
:tives and bound to stand by each other.
No matter how aggressive the man
may be, he is necessarily of a different
family, and the Immense majority
against him makes his case. hopeless.
Under these conditions family jars are
3extre1nely rare, for uII III the most
ScasesWi q mans gems take
up his defense 81 $..* y a3t Ii
Sdient, seldom used, but always held IN
reserve. # her husband does not be-
have himself he can be sent home to-
his father; in other words, he may be
expelled from his. Yifes Gems, into
which he is adopted when he $marries;
and cons quently has to leave tn home
OF the gems. In that case he loses not
only bis, wife but all rightsto his chill
dreny since the latter areareckoned the.
children chi Of the gems, and becomes prac-
tically, it not actually an outcast. The
ndian is very losth to give up the
teachings and beliefs of "a lifetime to.
adopt those Of other men; and the aver.
age brave recognizes that his wife is
the boss and conforms himself to&the
conditions which confront him, leaving
his theories for discussion IN the quiet
of a'.stag'' gathering. ~, =. Z. 4
4 AS matter of fact the average In