In the
way of finger-rings, ear-rings, necklaces, and other female
glories, nothing within reach of the trapper's means is omitted
that can tend to impress the beholder with an idea of the lady's
high estate.
To finish the whole, she selects from among her
blankets of various dyes one of some glowing color, and throwing
it over her shoulders with a native grace, vaults into the saddle
of her gay, prancing steed, and is ready to follow her
mountaineer 'to the last gasp with love and loyalty.' "
Such is the general picture of the free trapper's wife, given by
Captain Bonneville; how far it applied in its details to the one
in question does not altogether appear, though it would seem from
the outset of her connubial career, that she was ready to avail
herself of all the pomp and circumstance of her new condition. It
is worthy of mention that wherever there are several wives of
free trappers in a camp, the keenest rivalry exists between them,
to the sore detriment of their husbands' purses. Their whole time
is expended and their ingenuity tasked by endeavors to eclipse
each other in dress and decoration. The jealousies and
heart-burnings thus occasioned among these so-styled children of
nature are equally intense with those of the rival leaders of
style and fashion in the luxurious abodes of civilized life.
The genial festival of Christmas, which throughout all
Christendom lights up the fireside of home with mirth and
jollity, followed hard upon the wedding just described.
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