118 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY tBuU. 194 



A grandmother might sleep with her granddaughter and watch her 

 to see that the boys did not molest her, going out with her after dark 

 when the granddaughter had business away from the lodge. A 

 grandmother was with her granddaughters more than with a grandson. 

 A grandmother would tease her grandchildren about their associates 

 and they would do likewise, but teasing was mild out of respect for 

 her age. 



A "grandmother" had a right to meat being brought back to the 

 village and, learning that a hunting party was approaching the village, 

 the old women of the village would walk out to the point where the 

 hunters would pass and sit down to await the men with their loads. 

 Each hunter was expected to give meat to those women whom he 

 addressed as "grandmother" irrespective of the lodge in which she 

 lived and she, in turn, should sing one of the songs of praise. Any 

 young man wishing to become a village leader must be generous to the 

 "grandmothers." 



A grandmother might adopt a child whose mother and mother's 

 sisters had died and care for it until it was old enough to marry. In 

 return, the child was expected to care for the grandmother during the 

 latter's old age. 



The paternal grandmother was treated with respect due to her 

 position as mother of the father from whom one received training in 

 the ceremonies. She was not teased; in fact, she was feared and 

 highly respected if her husband owned important ceremonial bundles. 

 Since men were afraid to marry the widow of one who had important 

 sacred bundles, even the grandchildren feared her and treated her 

 with a certain reserve when she came to call. This difference seems 

 to have been less apparent when she lived in her son's lodge. As 

 children grew older the paternal grandmother played a greater role 

 in the ritualistic training than did the maternal grandmother and, 

 being of the father's clan, her knowledge of sacred matters was 

 solicited and paid for on numerous formal occasions. 



Other "grandmothers" were those women whom the husband 

 called "mother," "father's sister," or "grandmother." They, in turn 

 addressed the young man's wife as "daughter-in-law" to distinguish 

 her as being not of their blood. If hving in different lodges, the 

 "grandmothers" always treated her with respect. The situation was 

 somewhat altered with time when living together in the husband's 

 household where none of her sisters-in-law lived. Although the wife 

 preferred to live in her own household, frequently the husband had 

 no sisters to care for his parents and payments were made to the 

 daughter-in-law to come to the husband's lodge to live. This was a 

 good arrangement for the husband's people, for, provided they chose a 

 good daughter-in-law, they would have help around the lodge and in the 



