Winona has now attended her first maidens'
feast and is considered eligible to marriage. She
may receive young men, but not in public or in
a social way, for such was not the custom of the
Sioux. When he speaks, she need not answer
him unless she chooses.
The Indian woman in her quiet way preserves
the dignity of the home. From our standpoint
the white man is a law-breaker! The "Great
Mystery," we say, does not adorn the woman
above the man. His law is spreading horns,
or flowing mane, or gorgeous plumage for the
male; the female he made plain, but comely,
modest and gentle. She is the foundation of
man's dignity and honor. Upon her rests the
life of the home and of the family. I have
often thought that there is much in this philos-
ophy of an untutored people. Had her husband
remained long enough in one place, the Indian
woman, I believe, would have developed no
mean civilization and culture of her own.
It was no disgrace to the chief's daughter in
the old days to work with her hands.
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