essed upon her from early
childhood, and the bashfully drooping head, the averted look, the voice
low and seldom heard, these are graces much esteemed in a maiden.

She is taught to pay great attention to the care of her long, glossy
locks, combing, plaiting, and perfuming them with sweet-scented leaves
steeped in oil. Her personal appearance is well understood to be a
matter of real moment, and rich dress and ornaments are highly prized.
Fortunately they never go out of fashion, and once owned are permanent
possessions, unless parted with as ceremonial gifts on some great
occasion of mourning or festivity.

When she reaches a marriageable age her father allows her to give a
feast to all the other girls of her immediate clan, and this "Feast of
Virgins" may only be attended by those of spotless reputation. To have
given or attended a number of them is regarded as a choice honor.

Tatiyopa, by the time she is fifteen, has already a name for skill
in needlework, and generosity in distributing the articles of her own
making. She is now generally called Winona--the charitable and kind! She
believes that it is woman's work to make and keep a home that will be
worthy of the bravest, and hospitable to all, and in this simple faith
she enters upon the realities of her womanhood.

II. WINONA, THE CHILD-WOMAN

Braver than the bravest,
You sought honors at death's door;
Could you not remember
One who weeps at home--
Could you not remember me?

Braver than the bravest,
You sought honors more than love;
Dear, I weep, yet I am not a coward;
My heart weeps for thee--
My heart weeps when I remember thee!
--Sioux Love Song.

The sky is blue overhead, peeping through window-like openings in a roof
of green leaves. Right between a great pine and a birch tree their soft
doeskin shawls are spread, and there sit two Sioux maidens amid their
fineries--variously colored porcupine quills for embroidery laid upon
sheets of thin birch-bark, and moccasin tops worked in colors like
autumn leaves. It is Winona and her friend Miniyata.

They have arrived at the period during which the young girl is carefully
secluded from her brothers and cousins and future lovers, and retires,
as it were, into the nunnery of the woods, behind a veil of thick
foliage. Thus she is expected to develop fully her womanly qualities.
In meditation and solitude, entirely alone or with a chosen companion