MARRIAGE
810
MARROW
origin, aggregate into tribes and nations. Tribes are numerous vvhicri make this claim to common descent. Eut, upon inquiry, the ancestor of the race is always a legendary hero or god — a being invented to explain the origin of the tribe. In some cases the time of the in- vention is known, as with the Greek tribes which traced their descent to the sons of Helen.
There are several other peculiar customs widely in vogue relating to marriage, some of which are so curi- ous that it will be well to give a brief description of them also. The strangest of these is the general avoid- ance of intercourse between children and parents-in-law, in which the one is often forbidden to look at or men- tion the name of the other. The reason or the origin of these customs, or of the many strange forms which tliese assume, is not clear to us, and we can only give some instances of their general character. Under the peculiar Fijian system known as the tahu, the husband and wife are forbidden to eat from tlie same dish. (Com- pare the above custom among the Hindus.) In other places the father is not permitted to speak to the son after the latter is fifteen years old (Williams, Fiji, i, 13G). Among many races the woman is absolutely for- bidden to speak to her son-in-law. This system pre- vails generally among the American Indians {Origin of Civilization, p. 7). Among the Omahaws neither the father nor mother in-law will hold direct communication with their son-in-law (James, E.rp. to Each/ Mountains, i, 232). Under the social system of the Jlongols and Kalmucks a similar restriction appears, the wife being forbidden to speak to her father-in-law, or to sit in his presence. With the Ostiaks of Siberia a similar rule holds (" Un fille mariee evite autant qu'il lui est possi- ble la presence du pere de son mari, tant qu'elle n'a pas d'enfant ; et le mari, pendant ce temps, n'ose pas parai- tre devant la mere de sa femme. S'ils se rencontrent par hasard, le mari lui tourne le dos, et la femme se cou- vre le visage" [PaUas, iv, 71]). In China customs of a like nature exist, and also in some of tlie Pacific islands. In some cases this peculiar system assumes the strangest and most decided form. In Central Afiica the lover carefully avoids seeing either the father or mother of his future bride, taking great precautions to avoid an encounter. If he is of a different camp, this prohibition extends to all the members of the lady's camp, except a few special friends with whom he is permitted to have intercourse. He avoids passing through the camp, and, if obliged to do so, carefully covers his face (Caille, Tracels to Timhuctoo, i, 94). This appears to be a relic of the old system of capture, in which the captor would approach with the greatest stealth, and carefully avoid being observed by the inmates of the opposite camp, as in the case of the Australians above described.
Another custom widely prevalent, and of a yet stranger character, is that known in Beam as La Cou- i-iidc. It consists in putting the husband to bed on the l)irth of a child, and nursing him with the greatest care, while the mother goes to her usual duties. In some cases the poor fellow is put on such a strict regi- men that he really becomes sick. There are, in fact, cases in which his peculiar sufferings arc continued for several months, and he is so hardly dealt with that a real sickness would be far more endurable. Cases of this description occur in various parts of America, and in many regions of Europe and Asia, taking often the strangest forms. The idea thus symbolized is that the cliild is affected by anything happening to its nearest parent, and that any intemperance in eating, drinking, or otherwise, seriously affects the health of the child. Under the idea of male kinship, the father was consid- ered the nearest parent ; hence, was obliged to perform this peculiar penance. Max MiiUer says t]iat"tlie poor husband was first tyrannized- over by his, female reLi- tives, and afterwards frightened into supers! it iouslj' making a martyr of himself, until he became really ill, or took to Ids bed in self-defence (Chips from a Ger- man Wurkshoj), ii, 281). Lafitau regards it as arising
from a dim recollection of original sin, rejecting the Carib explanation that if the father engaged in rough labor, or was careless in his diet, "cela feroit mal k Ten- fant, et que cet enfant participeroit ;i tous les defauts naturels dos animaux dont le pere auroit mange" (i,2.i9). For additional illustrations, see Wedlock. (.J. H. W.)
Marron, Paul Henri, a Calvinistic divine, was born at Leyden April 12, 1754. After studjdng at the Acad- emy of Leyden, Marron entered the ecclesiastical office, and in 177G became pastor of the Walloon Church of Dort. In 1782 he was appointed chaplain of the Dutch embassy at Paris. Six years later, Rabaut-Saint-Etiennc secured his election as pastor by the Protestants of Par- is, on whom Louis XVI had just conferred civil rights, and who flattered themselves that they would obtain more complete justice. Being disappointed in this hope, they decided, in order to retain their pastor, who had just been called to Sedan, to celebrate public worship in a place rented for that purpose. In June, 1790, Bailly, mayor of Paris, and general La Fayette, obtain- ed permission for the Protestants to rent the Church of Saint-Louis-du-Louvre, which had been suppressed. Marron consecrated it on the 22d of the same mouth. In November, 1793, he had to present to the parish, as a patriotic gift, the four silver cups used in the celebration of the Lord's Supper. This proceeding did not save him from persecution. He had been twice arrested on suspicion, when, on the 7th of June, 1794, he was again imprisoned, and did not recover his liberty luitil after the fall of Robespierre. At this period, not being able to exercise his ministry publicly, he privately f'ldfilled its duties, and lived on the remuneration received as translator. In March, 1795, he obtained permission to resume his pastoral functions. At the time of the reor- ganization of divine -worship, he shared largely in the benefits of the law of April 7, 1801, and was confirmed in his position of pastor. Jlarron was a member of the Institute of the Low Countries, and of the Society of Sciences at Harlem ; he had some talent for preaching, and possessed, above all, the showy gift of oratory. He died at Paris, July 30, 1882. He composed some Latin verses on the events of his time, which are not without merit, and left some small works, of which the jirincipal are, Lettre dun Protestant a Vahbe Cerutti (Paris, 1789, 8vo) (anonymous) : — Paul-IIcnri Marron a la citoyenne Ilel'ene-Mai-ie Williams (Paris, an. iii, 8\-o) ; this letter has been inserted in the second volume of his Letters containing a sketch of the politics of France from the 31st of May, 1793, to the 28th of July, 1794 (Lond. 1795, 3 vols. 12mo): — Constitution du peuple Batave, traduiie du IJollandais (Paris, 1789, 8vo) :— P. //. 3Iurron, minis- tre du saint- Evam/ile a Monsieur Lecoz, archervque de Besan^on; this letter, dated Nov. 11, 1804, is printed at the end of a Letter to M. Lecoz, archbishop of Besaiifon, on his project of unithu/ all the Protestants and Roman Catholics 'in the French empire, etc. (Paris, 1807, 8vo). Marron also wrote for the Journal de Paris, the Jour- nal, and the ]\faffasin Encijclopedique ; and contributed numerous articles to the ninth edition of the Noureau nictionnaire Historique, to the Biorjraphie Unicerselleoi Midland, and to the Rerue Fnci/clopedique. He is cred- ited with the notes added to Mirabeau's work, entitled A u Bataves, sur le stathouderat (1788, 8vo). See Necro- loge de 1832 (Par. 1833, 8vo) ; Barbier, Diet, des ouvi-ages anonymes et 2>seudonymes ; Ilaag, La France Protes- iante; Hoefer, Xouvelle Biographic Generale, vol. xxxiii, s. V.