178 THE WINNEBAGO TRIBE [eth. ann-. 37 



be able to retain your hold on men. If you do your work to the 

 satisfaction of yotir husband, he will never leave you. I say again, 

 it is not proper to use medicine. Above all, do not use medicine 

 until you have passed your youth. You will otherwise merely 

 make yourself weak. You will lead a weak life. It may even hap- 

 pen that you will cause yourself to become foolish. 



Do not use a medicine in order to marry. If you marry remain 

 faitliful to your husband. Do not act as though you are married to 

 a number of men at the same time. Lead a chaste life. If you do 

 not listen to what I am telling you and you are unfaitliful to your 

 husband, all the men will jeer at you. They will say whatever they 

 wish to (and no one will interfere). Every man will treat you as 

 though he were on the "joking relationship" with you. If you do 

 not listen to me, therefore, you will injure yourself. 



Thus the old people used to talk to one another. Thus they would 

 warn one another against certain actions. They used to instruct 

 the young girls as they grew up (just as I am doing to you now). 

 That is why I am telling of these things now. 



My daughter, as you grow older and grow up to be a yoimg woman, 

 the yoxmg men will begin to court you. Never strike a man, my 

 daughter. It is forbidden. If you dislike a man very much, tell 

 liim gently to go away. If you do not do this and instead strike 

 him, remember that it frequently happens that men know of medi- 

 cines ; or if they themselves have none they may know from whom to 

 get them. If you make a man feel bad by striking liim, he may use 

 this medicine and cause you to run away with liim and become a 

 bad woman. It is for this reason that the old men used to warn 

 the young girls not to strike the men who are courting them, but 

 whom they dislike. Pray with all your heart that you do not be- 

 come such a woman. 



Do not act haughtily to your husband. Wliatever he tells you 

 to do, do it. Kindness wUl be returned to you if you obey your 

 husband, for he will treat you in the same manner. 



If you ever have a child, do not strike it. In the olden times 

 when a child misbehaved the parents did not strike it, but they 

 made it fast. When a child gets hungry, he will soon see the error 

 of his ways. If you hit a child, you will be merely knocking the 

 wickedness into him. Women should likewise never scold the 

 children because children are merely made wicked by scoldings. If 

 your husband scolds the children, do not take their part, for that 

 will merely make them bad. In the same way, if a stranger makes 

 your children cry, do not say anything to the stranger in the pres- 

 ence of the children, nor take their part in his presence. If you 

 wish to prevent a stranger from scolding your children, keep them 

 home and teach them how to behave by setting them a good ex- 

 ample. Do not imagine that you do the best for your childi-en by 



