The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-11
HOME LIFE OF THE PUEBLoS. Woman Visitor to the Indian Tribe in New Mexico Says the Wife's
 Rule There is Supreme.

Omaha (Neb.) Bee.
 On a warm, sunny afternoon last winter I got off the one dilapidated pas senger car in which l had been poking along through northern New Mexico at the end of a freight train since daylight There was no village, no house even, nothing in sight except the eternal hills, clothed with gray sagebrush and dwarf pinon trees, a tall ,red watering tank, a freight car, in which dwelt the family of a section man. But l knew that across the field about two miles l would come upon quaint little Indian pueblo. hidden away just where it had stood ever since the Spaniards came, and probably for centuries before.
 So l started across the mesa in search of San Ildefonso. An old Indian in a bright blanket caught up with me, and when I held up a nickel and pointed to my grip he slung it on his back and trotted off. I followed the trail across the mesa, flooded with the bright winter sunshine, crisp and clear with its 1000 feet of altitude. Now and then the pathway dipped into an lar roya," the sandy bed of a dry creek. Oc- casionlly a passing Indian gave me a friendly grunt of salutation. At last I passed through a narrow passage be- tween two houses and came into the plaza. Here was life enough, for in the Indian village of the Southwest all the houses face socially inward and present a cold and inhospitable back door to the intruder. The plaza was full of horses and dogs. children and adults. The buff falo dance was billed for the next morn ing at sunrise, and the Indians from neighboring pueblos for miles around were coming in to witness the ceremony. The sunny square was shifting kaleido- scope of bright blankets and dresses, but I was the only white person.
 Juan Gonzales and his family greet ed me with cordial courtesy, for the Pueblo Indians are among the most hos pitable, polite, and well-bred people in the world. They understand absolutely the way to make the guest feel that the house is his. Your property and your business are safe from curiosity. They bestow upon you the best in the house, and, having done so, apologize for noth- ing.
 Juan can read and write English, but is the only person in the pueblo who can do so. He has wife, Philomena. a daughter of five, Romancita, who Is a quaint little picture in black and tan, and a baby. which was asleep in a bed made comfortably in a swing suspended from the ceiling.
 Doled Out the Cigars.
 PhilC mcna always makes me realize how 1t was that Pocahontas could mar ry the swell young EEglishman, John , Rolfe, and he received with effusion in the Court and castles of England. She is the typical Indian maiden of song and story; a very Laughing Water in the flesh. Every movement of her will lowly figure is grace itself, and her deli cate bronze features, framed in their long, flowing coal black locks, would fill an artists soul with joy. She is as sweet and good as she is graceful and charming. But her slim little brown hand rules the household nevertheless.
 presented Juan with box of cigars and Romancita with a box of candy, but l might as well have given them to Philomena, for she took both and put them in a trunk, of which she carried the key She allowed Juan to have one cigar and thereafter when he was engaged in the sacred mysteries of the estdfas. she would send from time to time as many as she thought proper for him to have. The Pueblo Indians present a curious and extremely ancient survival of the mariachate, that femenine supremacy which archaeologists tell us once pre- vailed throughout the prehistoric world. The woman owns the house and all that is in it. The children belong to the mother, and trace their descent through the maternal line. When a man marries | Into ulHerent trlpe ms children belong to the tribe of his wife. In fact, the man is subordinated, just as in other races the woman is subordinated It is only in recent years that the wife has taken the husbands name on marriage.
 The Pueblo woman is a devout Catho- lie. These tribes refused stubbornly for long time to accept the teachings of the early Spanish padres. When they finally yielded they became very devoted to their church. But, curiously enough with the inveterate conservatism of the Indian. they only gave the white mans God place in their pantheon. In private they have always practiced their old religion. The dances which have ac- quired widespread fame in recent years are the only outward expression of its | practice. They all have a religious sig l nificance. The Indians of the pueblo are properlY bantized with Chrtsttan