The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1891-07-07

them injustice by demanding OF then
qualities which they have had httl,
chance to develop.
They make bright scholars and good
mechanics, but it is in the proprieties
and cQpmon decencies of social life thai
the Hawaiian is most uncivilized. How
uncivilized can only be realized by those
who know them intimately in their family
life, and hear the outrageouSly indecent
talk which the elders indulge in before
| the children, some OF the best educated
| families being no exception.
Even the young men who have been
in boarding schools ten years or more,
viii make the most indicate remarks to
white ladies, with the bland innocence
4 of child, or heather.
Whist mOdesty or morality can be ex-
pected Of people when the men think
nothing OF being half naked, or worse,
when at work ut home. or sitting in the
house after work hours?
And when they 20 fishing at the sea
! shore, men, women and children, If on
a warm day, will all be nearly as desti-
| tnte OF clothing as their ancestors were
| before the missionaries came. Boarding
| school boys are among the number.
The question is, how can these young
Hawaiians be taught common decency
as we know it? As for family govern
ment, what obedience or respect will 4
child render its mother if it sees the
| father strike or kick her whenever he
sees fit. And the torrent of abuse (for a
Hawaiian woman rarely strikes back
with which she tells him her opinion OF
him for so doing, does not tend to in
crease the child's respect for either par
ent, and excepting the ministers fami-
lies there are few homes where that does
not more or less frequently occur (and
this is one reason that so many of the
young women prefer to marry Cinnamon,
or even not marry at all.
Inquiry among native men and women
OF different social grades, concerning
their views on the subject, will show
that all agree that the husband has q
right to intiict SUITABLE corporal punish
ment ('hoopai kupono'') on his wife If
she is disobedient (''hookuli''). Many
of the young men who are now in board
ing schools argue most strenuously and
with the utmost sincerity in favor OF
wife beating as the proper and only
means of maintaining family govern
ment, adding alphabetically, - because,
YOU know, native women not ike white
women, they don't know much, and they
are very saucy.'
The fact that 4 Hawaiian woman
thinks her husband has 4 right to beat
her, Us ne considers her his property
Though OF course she doesn't ike it,
brings us to the root of the matter, the
Hawaiian woman'S lack OF self-respect.
Women get what they claim. Ii they
have self-respeCt enough to demand re-
spect from men, they get it.
But Hawaiian women have not vet
learned to, claim what belongs to them.
Many do not KNOW what the proper
treatment Is that they should demand,
as We understand ordinary ciyility.
They are taught theoretically in the
schools, but it is much like teaching
them to swim without going into the
water, and the examples they see at
home of the extreme familiarity be-
tween the sexes more than counterbal-
ances the effect of mere theoretical
teaching.
What is needed is practical training
every day in the = little things" the
ordinary civilities and proprieties
which white children begin to be
taught in their infancy, and which
marks the difference between civ
ilized and unciyilized people. 1t is only
bv everyday training that they can be
taught what is, and what is not, proper
for boys and girls to say and do before
each other, and the remedy for their
,,l -tc - f,,,flfor5f1- .1,Tlr-
training to keep hands off, OF each
other.
Training OF this kind in Self-restraint
will teach the young men to treat the
girls respectfully, ami what Is more i'm
portant, teach the girls to demand court
eous treatment from the boys.
\ young Hawaiian woman, teacher,
herself graduate OF q boarding school,
In commenting on the fact that so many
girls misbehaye the first few years after
leaving the boarding schools, said
81 But what can you expect when these
boys AMI girls have never been trained
how to treat each other? Ii you want
Hawaiians ever to be like white people
YOU must have boarding schools for boys
and girls together, and they never will
behave properly until you do have such
schools"
The small family school, away from
the distractions and designations of the
city; with teaching force sufficient to
reach every pupil with direct personal
effort and influence; where the indus
tries absorb the overflow OF energy and
animal life, offer the ideal condition for
home where boys may be trained in
manliness, self-reliance and purpose;
where boys and girls together may be
trained in mutual respect, courtesy and
restraint. As surely as the herb pro-
duces seed after its kind so surely must
conditions like these produce the best
types of men and women. They are the
conditions of the home. And the Chris
tan home is the hope of the world.