The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-10-14

Let nobody believe that the woman
question in this country is new.
When, last spring, several thousand
women paraded the streets as a dem
onstration that they wanted certain
things they hadn't got the episode
was referred to as the first of its kind
in America, but that only shows how
little we know of history.
If there is anything in legends, and
it would take a bold spirit to declare
that there isn't, America had suffrag-
lists four or five centuries ago, beside
whom the modern type sinks into IN
significance. In the good old days be-
fore Columbus came women who were
dissatisfied with their economic con-
dition did not confine themselves to
marching behind a band, carrying
banners. They expressed their dis
content in far more forcible ways.
The stories told by the Indians of
northern South America to the white
men who first came to this country,
included strange tales of Amazon5,
who fought with uneGualed fury, and
who won a place equal to, if not
above, that of men in the community.
There is even one legend, which sets
forth that the women in one nation
arose suddenly, poisoned all the men
they could reach in that manner, kill
ed a great many more in a pitched
battle, and then left the country IN
a body, establishing their own gov,
eminent elsewhere.
Indeed, these were the golden days
of woman suffrage. There is not one
legend, but many of the doings OF
these redoubtable ladies', and they
have been the subject of a great deal
of scientific interest, especially Of re-
cent years, since South America has
been recognized as a wonderful field
for the explorer. Especially in the
north these stories abound. They
spread from Mexico to the region
south of Brazil and from the West
Indies to Southern California. Trav-I
elers were told of whole islands peo-
pied by women alone.
In fact, the women of the new coun-
try were shown to be so violent I'M
disposition, so liable to get up and
leave whenever things failed to SUIT
that the men were held justified in
somewhat stern measures of repres-
SION. You see" explained the tray.
1legs, IF the women were given any
freedom at all they would just give
Up their duty altogether a very fine
argument which has remained popu-
lar to this day.
Half a dozen books have been is
sued recently bearing on this ANA
,on question. Were there really any
Amazons? And if so, where? When
lid they disappear and why?
OF course, there is an Amazon leg
End, widespread To begin with, both
lere and in Europe the stories have
part of their origin at least very far
pack, when women occupied a mucn
higher position than she did later
For it must be remembered that t
vas civilization, so called, that de-
graded the position of woman and
made her more or less the property
Of man. In prehistoric times she
seems to have had a large amount of
freedom.
So, then, scholars trace a part of
his Amazon legend back to the prim-
i've time when women were rulers
with, or even over, men. Indeed, one
scholar has pointed out that the sto-
les of Amazons are better preserved
n the savage tribes than in the more
civilized. The legends were presery-
I'd by men and discreetly embellisheI |
with a view to arousing their male