LIFE AND LOVE RETURN 277 



good girl and will make you happy; for she can make good 

 moccasins.' 



"'Yes,' I replied, 'I know the girl and I want her.' 



'"To-morrow, then,' said her father, 'you must sit upon the 

 brush with her. I will tell the women to prepare the feast.' 



"Next morning Ojistoh sat waiting in her lodge for me to 

 come. Already she wore the badge of womanhood, for not 

 having a new dress she had simply reversed her old one and 

 buttoned it up in front instead of the back. For it is the cus- 

 tom of Ojibway girls to button their dresses behind and for 

 married women to button theirs in front. 



"My son, you should have seen me that morning, for I was 

 bedecked in all my finery, and upon entering Noo-koom's 

 lodge, I seized Ojistoh by the hair of her head, and dragged her 

 out. Her struggles to escape from me were quite edifying in 

 their propriety. Her shrieks were heartrending — or rather, 

 they would have been had they not alternated with delighted 

 giggles. Ry that time the wedding march had begun; for as 

 we struggling lovers led the way, the children, bubbling with 

 laughter, followed; and the old people brought up the rear of 

 the joyous procession. We, the happy couple, tussled with 

 each other until we reached a spot in the bush where I had 

 cleared a space and laid a carpet of balsam brush beside a fire. 

 There I deposited her. With a final shriek she accepted the 

 new conditions, and at once set about her matrimonial duties, 

 while the others returned to their lodges to put the finishing 

 touches to the wedding breakfast. 



"Oh, yes, my son, those were happy days," continued the 

 hunter. "There, beside a great fire in the open, was laid a carpet 

 of brush, in the centre of which a blanket was spread, and upon 

 it the feast. There were rabbits, partridges, and fish roasted 

 upon sticks. In a pot, boiled fresh moose and caribou meat; 

 in another, simmered lynx entrails, bear fat, and moose steak. 

 In a third, stewed ducks and geese. In a fourth, bubbled 



