CHAPTER V. 

 DOMESTIC LIFE. 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 



§ 80. Age of puberty and marriage. — It is now customary for girls to 

 be married at the age of fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen years among the 

 Omahas, and in the Ponka tribe they generally take husbands as soon 

 as they enter their fifteenth year. It was not so formerly; men waited 

 till they were twenty-five or thirty, and the women till they were twenty 

 years of age. Then, when a consort was spoken of they used to refer 

 the matter to their friends, who discussed the characters of the parties, 

 and advised accordingly, as they proved good (i. e., industrious and 

 good-tempered, and having good kindred) or bad. Sometimes an Omaha 

 girl is married at the age of fourteen or fifteen ; but in such a case her 

 husband waits about a year for the consummation of the marriage. 

 When a girl matures rapidly she is generally married when she is six- 

 teen ; but those who are slow to mature marry when they reach seven- 

 teen. (See § 97.) 



Dougherty states (in Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, vol. 

 1, p. 230) that " In the Omawhaw nation numbers of females are be- 

 trothed in marriage from their infancy. * * * Between the ages 

 of nine and twelve years the young wife is occasionally an invited visit- 

 ant at the lodge of her husband, in order that she may become famil- 

 iarized with his company and his bed." But such is not the case among 

 the Omahas according to La Fleche and Two CroWs, who say that 

 Dougherty referred to a Kansas custom. 



§ 81. Courtship. — The men court the women either directly or by 

 proxy. The women used to weigh the matter well, but now they hasten 

 to marry any man that they can get. Sometimes the girl told her 

 kindred and obtained their advice. Parents do not force their daugh- 

 ters to marry against their will. Sometimes a girl refuses to marry the 

 man, and the parents cannot compel her to take him. All that they cau 

 do is to give her advice : " Here is a good young man. We desire you 

 to marry him." Or they may say to the people, "We have a single 

 daughter, and it is our wish to get her married." Then the men go to 

 court her. Should the parents think that the suitor is not apt to make 

 her a good husband they return his presents. Suitors may curry favor 

 with parents and kindred of the girl by making presents to them, but 

 parents do not sell their daughters. The presents made for such a pur- 

 pose are generally given by some old man who wishes to get a very 

 young girl whom he is doubtful of winning. When a man courts the 



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