Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1896-05-12
KATE FIELDS LETTER.
HER DusQUIsITION ON RIDING A
HORSE MAN FASHION.
Arguments For and Against the Gus
tom Set Forth She says the old
way Feels safer.

they shall or shall not depends
upon women themselves. L am
tired of being told that man is
woman's natural enemy, and that
we shall all go to "the demnition
bowwows" il society be not chang
ed. Brute force has seen its best
days. With the birth of labor
saving machines and revolvers
the reign of woman began. Who
invented these machines ? The
tyrant man. If the genus homo |
be an evolution, society is an evo-
luton, and though the converse
be true of the rest of the world, it |
is undeniable that women form
society in the United States. If
it be conventional and rotten,
they alone are to blame. Women
can make it what they please. Ii
they adopt a left-legged instead
of right legged side saddle, or
prefer to ride man fashion or abol-
ish saddles altogether, men will ac-
cept the verdict and applaud, pro-
yided their sisters, cousins, aunts
and sweethearts are unanimous
and don't make frights of them
selves. Should women decide to
brave comment and ride astride
and stand by one another with
proper esprit du corps, such as
distinguishes men, all hue and cry
against unwomanliness would
cease.
1 see signs of the coming
change, but they are far away.
Forgetting, through ignorance of
their power, that whatever man
may have done, women now forge
their own shackles, my sisters point
the finger of scorn at individual
exceptions who dare to ride on
both sides of n horse, and to the
worst of their ability brand these
independent beings as "immo-
dest!"
What is modesty ? Is it not a
movable feast ? After putting
girdle round mother which,
by the way, is all she wears
George Francis Train stated that
half the British empire dressed in
nothing but stovepipe hats and
strings. Shall we virtuously
shudder and turn an honest 10
penny by selling adulterated
cotton to these children of nature,
or shall we congratulate the bet
ter-off half of the British empire
upon their freedom from the
tyranny of fashion I? Who dare
asssil the modesty of the belle of
the dark continent for being
clothed purely in her right mind?
Will Mrs. Grundy please remem-
ber that woman's undraped face
is as shocking to oriental eyes as
undraped bodies are to hers I?
Everything depends upon the
point of view. The point of view
depends upon education. AS edu-
cation is creature of race and
climate, modesty becomes a geo.
graphical expression. Let us
drop geography and take up COM
mon sense.
How do women of "uncivilized"
races rider
Astride.
Why?
Because aboriginal races live
face to face with nature and adopt
such customs as most harmonic
with her. Man naturally rides
astride a horse, because in no
other way can a perfect balance
and complete control be attained
without artificial aids. Primitive
women copies her lord and master,
even when the era of barebacks
succumbs to saddles. 1t remains
for "ciyilized" convention to de-
wise the side, saddle and skirt of
dangerous length with death in
every inch. Why this departure
from common sense 3? o..
Because in the days of Queen
Elizabeth, / think, a noble dame
was too deformed to ride astride,
as women always had ridden up
to that time. To cover the ply
steal defects of one woman a
whole sex have been punished for
centuries
Recognizing the wickedness of
long and the inconvenience of full
skirts, fashion has reduced riding
habits to as short and close fit
as possible. Recognizing, too,
the abominations of the old side
saddle. which raises the right leo