Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1900-10-18

MUST NOT PRAY TO GOD.
Women Of Madagascar Are Forbidden to
Intercede with Their Maker.
The women Of Madagascar are not
allowed to pray to God. They must
pray to the devil, as the men alone are
privileged to address the great judge.
as the Supreme Being is styled, said
B. Fl. Low, Of Norway, who was.
among the missionaries attending the.
scumenical conference in New 7 ork
city and who was the first white man
to 60 to Madagascar as a missionary.
Girls are given in marriage very
young. The ceremony consists in.
smearing the front part Of the bodies
Of both the bride and groom with the
blood Of an OK killed for the occasion.
This OK is given by the groom, just as
an American would buy license,
'Madagascans do not buy their wives,
though they pay for them when the
women are killed or injured. If a
man kills his wife her father or his
representative demands 80 oxen, and
receives them. If he injuries her in
any way he must pay Is oxen. These
two penalties are about the only pro-.
lection a woman has against her hus-
bands cruelty. :.s 5.=
'"The parental affection, at least
for those children who are allowed to
live, is beautiful. They treat them as
their most. precious possessions. But
the one whom the priest declares is
cursed by God is buried alive or placed
on an ant hill as soon as its fate is de-
cided. The instant child is born a
near relative Of the family runs to the
priest and acquaints him Of the fact.
He reads the stars, or pretends to, and
sends back word to the parents wheth-
er the child is favored or hated by
their God. If hated, the infant is
killed, as I describe; if favored, it is
allowed to live and becomes the, OBJ
ject Of the greatest solicitud de.
"Not until six months after its
birth is the mother allowed to stir out
of her hut or do any work. During
that time her husband and some Of his
other wives must work for her, while
she devotes herself to the care of the
child. Many of the babies suffer from
sore eyes, caused by keeping them so
long in a dusky hut and around a
smoky fire. 49,, r, =,
"Of course, the women are the
slaves of the men. That is invariably
the case in uncivilized countries.
Wives plant and gather the rice, at
tend to all household duties and weave
the cloth. This weaving, by the way,
is one Of the simplest and most inter
esting operations I have ever wit
messed. n.
among the unenlightened people
Il mean those who have not come
under the influence of the mission
aries and traders-they are never
clothed until after death. During life
they go entirely naked, except for
grass mats worn around the waists
and strings Of beads and charms W orn
around their .necks and bodies. But
when they die the bodies are often
wrapped with as many as 40 robes,
which they call lambas. These
lambas are like sheet and are
woven by the women and laid
aside to be used as winding sheets.
The richer a man is the more lambas
he has. They are Of both silk and cot
ton. The silk may besany color. But
you must not imagine that these lam
bas are used when a woman dies. @,
no; they are not wasted on women.
Only men are buried in cloth wrap
pings, but the women take great pride
in making them. When a woman dies
she is put away with almost no cere-
monies, and as soon as possible. They
do not dig graves, but place the body
on the ground and heap up stonesand
earth above it Minneapolis Trib-
une. g15
THE TIEING OF sHoEsTRINGs.