But the pioneer was not indolent, in any sense. He had no dreaminess--meditation was no part of his mental habit--a poetical fancy would, in him, have been an indication of insanity. If he reclined at the foot of a tree, on a still summer day, it was to sleep: if he gazed out over the waving prairie, it was to search for the column of smoke which told of his enemy's approach: if he turned his eyes toward the blue heaven, it was to prognosticate to-morrow's storm or sunshine: if he bent his gaze upon the green earth, it was to look for "Indian sign" or buffalo trail. His wife was only a help-mate--he never thought of making a divinity of her--she cooked his dinner, made and washed his clothes, bore his children, and took care of his household. His children were never "little cherubs,"--"angels sent from heaven"--but generally "tow-headed" and very earthly responsibilities. He looked forward anxiously, to the day when the boys should be able to assist him in the field, or fight the Indian, and the girls to help their mother make and mend. When one of the latter took it into her head to be married--as they usually did quite early in life; for beaux were plenty and belles were "scarce"--he only made one condition, that the man of her choice should be brave and healthy. He never made a "parade" about anything--marriage, least of all. He usually gave the bride--not the "blushing" bride--a bed, a lean horse, and some good advice: and, having thus discharged his duty in the premises, returned to his work, and the business was done. The marriage ceremony, in those days, was a very unceremonious affair. The parade and drill which now attend it, would then have been as ridiculous as a Chinese dance; and the finery and ornament, at present understood to be indispensable on such occasions, then bore no sway in fashion. Bridal wreaths and dresses were not known; and white kid gloves and satin slippers never heard of. Orange blossoms--natural and artificial--were as pretty then as now; but the people were more occupied with substance, than with emblem. The ancients decked _their_ victims for the sacrifice with gaudy colors, flags, and streamers; the moderns do the same, and the offerings are sometimes made to quite as barbarous deities. But the bride of the pioneer was clothed in linsey-wolsey, with hose of woollen yarn; and moccasins of deer-skin--or as an extra piece of finery, high-quartered shoes of calf-skin--preceded satin slippers. The bridegroom came in copperas-colored jeans--domestic manufacture--as a holiday suit; or, perhaps, a hunting-shirt of buckskin, all fringed around the skirt and cape, and a "coon-skin" cap, with moccasins. Instead of a dainty walking-stick, with an opera-dancer's leg, in ivory, for head, he always brought his rifle, with a solid maple stock; and never, during the whole ceremony, did he divest himself of powder-horn and bullet-pouch.