342 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FOX WOMAN. [PTH. ANN. 40, 
© Tt is considered improper for a boy and girl, unless very young, 
to be seen talking together. A young man can not meet his inamo- 
rata openly; it must be in the brush or at night when the old people 
are asleep. For the Sauk cf. Paterson’s Autobiography of Black 
Hawk, p. 60. 
2° Most Fox girls even to-day marry much earlier than this, and 
this has been the case from at least 1820 onward. See Marston, l. c., 
p- 165 (14 to 18); Forsyth, 1. ¢., p. 216 (14 usually; rarely as late as 
16); Fulton, 1. c., p. 141 (generally at 15); Rebok, H. M., Last of the 
Mus-qua-kies (Dayton, O., 1900), p. 43 (marry . . . from 14 to 16). 
Miss Owen’s statement (Folk-lore of the Musquakie Indians, p. 74) 
that 24 is the marriageable age for girls is a typical example of her 
inexact observations, and her lack of knowledge of documentary 
sources regarding the Foxes. 
*1 A girl is not supposed to go off by herself unless she has some 
good reason. If a girl gads about and does no housework she soon 
acquires an unenyviable reputation. So T. 
» Wife beating is not common among the Foxes, but it occurs 
sporadically; in Forsyth’s time the state of affairs was apparently 
the same. See Forsyth, l. c., 215. 
23 In the early days girls wished to marry young men that were 
successful in kiling game, who trapped and sold furs, thereby gaining 
an easy livelihood; but to-day girls are told to try to marry young 
men who have homes, horses, and everything they want. The young 
man who can support a wife is the one to marry. It is bad form for a 
young girl to marry a divorced man, and vice versa (T). 
24 On marriage among the Foxes see Marston. |. ¢., 165-167; For- 
syth, l. c., 214; Busby, 1. c., 82,83; Owen, l. c., 72-76. Compare, for 
the Sauks, Paterson, 1. c., 59, 60. Compare also Perrot, apud Blair, 
l. c., 1, 67, 68, 69. Some details may be added. Ordinarily if a man 
marries a divorcée or widow she gets no presents, unless his parents 
emphatically approve of the woman. To-day a boy usually sounds 
his father on the subject of marriage, but he may have begun paying 
nocturnal visits to his inamorata previously. The narrative in the 
text is typical of marriage among the Foxes to-day. The facts show 
very clearly that the girl is not merely purchased. 
2 The data given in the text are very full. See, too, Forsyth, 1. ¢., 
210. The present writer can confirm but few of the alleged facts 
given by Miss Owen, |. ¢., 63 et seq. He knows some are mistaken. 
To-day the Foxes no longer name a child at a gens festival held 
shortly after birth. 
6 The Indian text at this point is too naive for European taste, and 
so has been deled. The only point of ethnological interest is that 
during the period named carnal intercourse is not allowed. The point 
that men would not marry the immoral girl corresponds exactly to 
