The Winchester news. [volume] (Winchester, Ky.) 1908-19??, 1908-10-17

tyranny of the lazy lords Of the meSas
and went out on strike, removing to
distant mesa so difficult of access
that they could easily defend 1t against
forcible invasion. For time the men
refused to worry, believing that the
women would soon tire Of their Adam
less Eden; but as days grew into
weeks with no sign of surrender from
the women the men began to negotiate
for a restoratic of domestic union
To all overtures this kind the wom-
en- returned but me answer. They
were ready to return to their homes
whenever the men were ready to con-
cede to them the mastery of the house
hold. 1t was a bitter pill, without
sugar coating, but the men were COM
PEELED to swallow it.
This earliest and most successful
of all women's rights movements oc-
Cured so long ago that tradition gives
no hint of the epoch, and the name of
the female Napoleon who carried
through this remarkable campaign has
been lost in the mists of ages. Never.
gettes still lives. In the strange stone
cities, perched high on the SUBMITS of
the Arizona mesas, the women still
rule the roost and the men play a sor-
ry second fiddle. Among all other
tribes of American aborigines the
squaws are drudges and beasts of
burden, trained to fetch and carry and
cater to the caprices of the dirty
braves with abject humility. In Hopi
land the positions of the sexes are ex-
actly reversed.
There the men perform the most
mental of household tasks, till the
fields, attend to the sheep, goats and
burros, weave blankets, belts and cere-
monial robes, mind the babies, and in
general do as their wives bid them.
The fine art work of the Hopis-baS
ket making and pottery manufacture
are reserved for the women, appar
emily In the belief that mans inferior
ity renders him unfit for the serious
business of life. 1t is worthy of note
that the blankets woven by the Hopi
men are SO inferior to those woven by
the Navajo women that there is no
room for comparison, while the pot.
terry made by the Hopi women is the
finest of its kind in the world, and
their baskets have no superiors. Even
the most dearly cherished prerogative
of masculinity in other parts of the
world-that of selecting a life part
ner-has been usurped by the women
of the Hopis. Whenever a girl makes
her choice of husband she goes to
consult the youths mother. If the
mother is willing to accept the candi.
date for daughter-in-law the business
is settled on the spot, and the man in
the case must make the best of 1t. To
consult either him or his father or the
girls father would be considered as
ridiculous as unnecessary.
Once the question of marriage has
been settled the girl must grind meal
for 80 days for her prospective moth
er-in-law, while the man must weave
his future wife's wedding dress, en-
broider it by hand, and plant the crops
for the maintenance of his household.
Inevitably this RELOCATION of the mas
culine sex to a secondary position has
been productive of curious and in
structive social results. Not least
striking Of these is the poor figure the
Hopi tribesmen always have cut In
warfare. In the perennial wars
waged against them by the Navajos
the Hopis always were worsted. But
for the inaccessibility of the location
of their towns, upon the SUBMITS of
lofty mesas, the Navajos would have
exterminated them. In contempt the
warlike nomads called them "Moki,"
signifying dead men," while their
proper appellation. "Hopi." signifies
men of peace"