Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 45.djvu/407

 Rh only qualified to marry after he has succeeded in killing a polar bear without assistance. This is taken as an evidence of his ability to provide for the wants of the household. In Turkey a prominent part of the ceremony is the chasing of the bridegroom by the guests, who strike him and hurl their slippers at him. And what adds zest to the occasion is the fact that these onslaughts are usually led by the females who were disappointed at the loss of a former lover. Another survival of marriage by capture is discovered among the Ceylonese, where it is common at royal marriages for the king and queen to throw perfumed balls and squirt scented water at each other.

As stated above, even in the latter stage of marriage by purchase, where the marriage contract is settled on a friendly basis, the symbol of capture is still maintained. For example, after the purchase price is agreed upon, the girl is given the privilege of running for her independence. This is known as "bride-racing," and takes various forms. In one instance, the girl is mounted on a swift horse; she is given a good start, and then pursued by her lover similarly mounted. If he overtakes her, she becomes his bride. If not, the marriage is declared off. As a rule, however, after a little exciting sport, the girl allows herself to be overtaken.

Among other tribes, we find the symbol of capture perpetuated in the foot race, or water chase in canoes; or the race may be run through a series of tents, as observed by Mr. Kennan in Siberia. In this case all sorts of obstructions are placed in the way of the groom by the friends of the bride, and if he be successful in running the gantlet and jumping the improvised hurdles in time to catch the girl he becomes a Benedict. It is also a custom for the "fair one," if she be more fleet-footed than her lover, to wait kindly in the last tent until he joins her.

Thus it is general among uncivilized peoples to accompany the wedding ceremony with violence of some sort. Kicking and screaming on the part of the bride are considered an evidence of modest; and the stouter her resistance and the more violent her convulsions, the greater is she appreciated ever after by her husband and her own friends. It is said even to-day that the young girl hardest to woo is best appreciated by her lover.

Marriage among the Greeks and Romans consisted of three acts: First, the quitting of the paternal hearth; second, the conducting of the young girl to the house of her husband, accompanied by relatives and friends and preceded by the nuptial torch. Then the act of violence survives in the following, the third part of the ceremony; for at this point it was the duty of the groom to seize the bride and carry her into his house without allowing her feet to touch the sill. Around the domestic hearth the