Changes

==83:3. PURCHASE AND DOWRY==

==83:3. PURCHASE AND DOWRY==

83:3.1 The [[ancients]] mistrusted [[love]] and [[promises]]; they thought that abiding [[unions]] must be guaranteed by some tangible [[security]], [[property]]. For this reason, the purchase price of a [[wife]] was regarded as a forfeit or deposit which the [[husband]] was [[doomed]] to lose in case of [[divorce]] or [[desertion]]. Once the purchase price of a bride had been paid, many [[tribes]] permitted the [[husband]]'s [[brand]] to be burned upon her. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa Africans] still buy their wives. A [[love]] [[wife]], or a white man's wife, they [[compare]] to a cat because she costs nothing.

83:3.1 The [[ancients]] mistrusted [[love]] and [[promises]]; they thought that abiding [[unions]] must be guaranteed by some tangible [[security]], [[property]]. For this reason, the purchase price of a [[wife]] was regarded as a forfeit or deposit which the [[husband]] was [[doomed]] to lose in case of [[divorce]] or desertion. Once the purchase price of a bride had been paid, many [[tribes]] permitted the [[husband]]'s brand to be burned upon her. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa Africans] still buy their wives. A [[love]] [[wife]], or a white man's wife, they [[compare]] to a cat because she costs nothing.

83:3.2 The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride bride] shows were occasions for [[dressing]] up and decorating daughters for [[public]] exhibition with the [[idea]] of their bringing higher prices as [[wives]]. But they were not sold as [[animals]]—among the later [[tribes]] such a [[wife]] was not transferable. Neither was her purchase always just a cold-blooded [[money]] [[transaction]]; [[service]] was equivalent to cash in the purchase of a wife. If an otherwise desirable man could not pay for his wife, he could be [[adopted]] as a son by the girl's [[father]] and then could marry. And if a poor man sought a wife and could not meet the price demanded by a grasping [[father]], the [[elders]] would often bring [[pressure]] to bear upon the [[father]] which would result in a [[modification]] of his demands, or else there might be an [[elopement]].

83:3.2 The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride bride] shows were occasions for [[dressing]] up and decorating daughters for [[public]] exhibition with the [[idea]] of their bringing higher prices as [[wives]]. But they were not sold as [[animals]]—among the later [[tribes]] such a [[wife]] was not transferable. Neither was her purchase always just a cold-blooded [[money]] [[transaction]]; [[service]] was equivalent to cash in the purchase of a wife. If an otherwise desirable man could not pay for his wife, he could be [[adopted]] as a son by the girl's [[father]] and then could marry. And if a poor man sought a wife and could not meet the price demanded by a grasping [[father]], the [[elders]] would often bring [[pressure]] to bear upon the [[father]] which would result in a [[modification]] of his demands, or else there might be an [[elopement]].