According to an English observer,[18] analogous modes of courtship still
exist. In speaking of the canton _Unterwald_ he says: "In the story of
the destruction of the castles, we read that the surprise was effected
by a young girl admitting her lover to her room by a ladder, and an
English guide-book remarks, that this is still the fashion of receiving
lovers in Switzerland. Reference is had to the manner of wooing, which
in some cantons is called _lichtgetren_, in others _dorfen_ and
_stubetegetren_, and answers to the old-fashioned _going-a-courting_ in
England. The customs connected with it vary in different cantons, but
exist in some form in all except two or three.
In the canon _Lucerne_, the _kiltgang_ is the universal mode of wooing;
the lover visiting his betrothed in the evening, to be pelted on the way
by all mischievous urchins; or if he is seated quietly with her by the
winter fire, they are sure to be serenaded by all manner of _cat voices_
under the window, which are continued till he issues forth, perhaps at
dawn in the morning; and however long may be a courtship, these
_cater-waulings_ are the invariable attendants, and not the most
lamentable consequences of these nightly visits, recognized, however, as
entirely respectable and conventional in every canton."
And again in the canton _Vaud_, he says, "the _kiltgang_, or nightly
wooings, are the universal custom with the universal consequences, but
in general the wife is treated with marked respect, is made keeper of
the treasury, and consulted as the oracle of the family."