The youth was encouraged to enlist early in the public
service, and to develop a wholesome ambition for the honors of a
leader and feast-maker, which can never be his unless he is
truthful and generous, as well as brave, and ever mindful of
his personal chastity and honor. There were many ceremonial
customs which had a distinct moral influence; the woman was rigidly
secluded at certain periods, and the young husband was forbidden to
approach his own wife when preparing for war or for any religious
event. The public or tribal position of the Indian is entirely
dependent upon his private virtue, and he is never permitted to
forget that he does not live to himself alone, but to his tribe and
his clan. Thus habits of perfect self-control were early
established, and there were no unnatural conditions or complex
temptations to beset him until he was met and overthrown by
a stronger race.

To keep the young men and young women strictly to their honor,
there were observed among us, within my own recollection, certain
annual ceremonies of a semi-religious nature. One of the most
impressive of these was the sacred "Feast of Virgins," which, when
given for the first time, was equivalent to the public announcement
of a young girl's arrival at a marriageable age. The herald,
making the rounds of the teepee village, would publish the feast
something after this fashion:

"Pretty Weasel-woman, the daughter of Brave Bear, will kindle
her first maidens' fire to-morrow! All ye who have never
yielded to the pleading of man, who have not destroyed your
innocency, you alone are invited, to proclaim anew before the Sun
and the Earth, before your companions and in the sight of the Great