The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1860-01-05
ne IS top knott of the impossible bs.s

and end it at the q top knott of the impossible L..
dress.
Yet it is no fault of hers that she is weighed
unequal balances and found wanting-uan6ne :,
thousand undefnable, feminine grases over -,
above what we expect or require in man. We ,
accustomed to them in woman, that we either fo,..
or else never knew, that they do not belong N 49,
her FORMAL condition, more than to the other -
Can any one find in the pictures referred IN a.
least evidence that the two individuals there ren-.
scented are not equally distant from he commo,
starting point of pure s~avagism I! Nc. But :, :.
only too plain that they have very unequal dists,.,
yet to travel before they will appear to be eop.u.
civilized, or before each will arrive at the prescr;ba,
goal, If the lady travels the faster, the two n.
reach their respective points at the same time. 70
their speed is equal. it is clear the gentleman !.
bound to " be in' first. And this, we believe. /. n.
true state of the case. That which passes amon. a.
for true feminine civilization is the result 81 lon,
years of persistent training and restraining, diaer;ps
widely from the discipline applied to the other sx.
For the first four or five years, indeed, boys and
girls are subjected TO similar influences, and copse
ouently are similar in their manners, tastes. diver
sions and bodily form. They are more alike than in
any after periods of life.-the boys are a little more
like the girls, and the girls a little more lie the
boys, manifestly to the advantage of both parties.
And so long as the influences run parallel, the re-.
suits do the same. But by and by the time comes.
and all too soon, VIXEN the prevailing tastes of society
require that the girls should be distracted fron the
play ground, the school room. and in a great measure
from the companionship of their brothers. and their
brothers friends. The boys have the whole field Of
active sports left to them, and keep on as they began
flying their kites-sailing their boats-truudling
49, 49,. IL l~.:-Y:.-- sl-: lI---la
the girls are subjected to-we had almost said an
omnipotent system of checks and restraints, mental
and bodily, for, be it known, the accredited type of
feminine civilization must be more than ssskin deep.',
Though not absolutely requiring dominion over The
intellect, it must at least lay hold OF, and give laws
to refractory bones and muscles. Some have it, q little
pressure here, and a good deal there-a screw tight
ened here, and another loosened there-unhealthy
development in one direction-unhealthy repression
in another, until at last the result is attained; which
result, the human mechanist assures us, is a highly
civilized lady.
Now it is evident our Madagascar Princess never
had the advantage of the modern improvements on
nature-the toning down of outward development to
the true : lady-like" point, and therefore we feel
constrained to pay our gentlemen friends the some
what equivocal compliment of admitting that, were
she Invested of her head coverings, and clad in the
sterner costume of her companion, she would look
like q civilized man.
But we can afford to dismiss our pictorial i~Ilustrs-
ton, since we are surrounded by Hawaiian females,
whose antecedents and corresponding ousequents are
30 very similar. Hawaiian girls have not been picked
up in their early years and put through q course Of
discipline, made and provided for the gentler sex
only. With some differences, and those all in favor
of the boys, the girls have been reared with the boys,
and are still SO much like them, as not to bear meas
urement by foreign standards of feminine civiliza-
ton.
1t would be extremely difficult to prove that the
men of this nation have outstripped the women in
absolute distance from the 'hole of the pitt in which
Christianity found them. If the women are relatively
in the rear. it is owing to our point of observation,
which demands that they should be in the van.
Should the foregoing views be correct, it follows
that it is much more difficult for the native wemen
than for the men to attain to that standard Of excel
lency prepared for them before the foundation Of
Hawaiian civilization.
1t will be the object of another paper to inquire
what these difficulties are, and low they may be ale
waited. L. 1.