The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-07-20
THE ROMANCE OF
A VANISHING RACE
IN Businesses OF EVERGLADES
ARE REMNANTS OF A FOR
MER POWERFUL NATION.
ONCE MIGHTY SEMINOLE TRIBE

Who Defied the United States Gov
eminent for More Than Fifty Years
and Persistenly Refused to Be-
come Civilized"
Deep in the silent Businesses of the
Everglades of Florida the remnants
of a once powerful nation, now as
separate from the white race as when
Columbus landed, live in scornful but
silent hatred of the white man. These
are the fast-disappearing members of
the once mighty tribe of Seminoles,
who defied the United States gov
eminent for more than fifty years,
and persistently refused to become
civilized writes J. r. Henderson
in The Visitor.
Legend of the SeminOles.
The legend, handed down from
father to son, has it that many
moons ago, in the time of the great
est medicine man of all, ''Te-ye-ma-
da-ya." the land of the Seminoles
was a wondrous country where the
women dominated everything. In
their tribe, which was one of the
most exclusive and highest-caste ma
lions of the New World, maternity
counted for everything and paternity
practically nothing. The mother was
the head of the family and the rec
ognized ruler. Those women of the
Seminoles were proud and strong.
They scorned wounds and weakness
of any kind. Physically they were
the nearest to perfection of any race
in all the graceful, hand
some, agile, brave and chivalrous.
All families greatly desired the
birth of femae babies. The girls could
choose their husbands, and the chos-
en- one came to live with his mother
in-law, to become part of her fam
ily and obey her rule. The freedom
of the women began with marriage.
Until a girl was married she was
nothing. But upon marriage, which
frequently occurred at the age of IA,
she at once attained complete lib
erty. She could dismiss her husband
at once if she liked, but she remain
ed married woman and was permit
ted to do as she pleased.
This rule of the mother and the
practical ignoring of the father ex-
tended through the whole of the Sem
mole nation. 1t was the worlds last
survival of a system asserted to have
once been the general law of the
land-the recognition of the mother
as the real creator of the races and
the rightful ruler.
Less Than Five Hundred Left.
Although the many wars and fore
ed emigrations reduced the Seminoles
to a few hundred their mode of liv-
ing, disposition and customs are in
many respects the same as when De
Soto entered Tampa bay In 1889,
They avoid all contact with the white
race and seldom, if ever, invite a
white man to share their confidence;
and on account of the almost inacces-
sible nature of the region in which
they live very little is known Of their
present home life. Unlike the In
dams of Oklahoma they have always
refused to accept any help from the
government. saying in response to
offers of the same that they only wish
to be let alone.
The remnant of the tribe now liv-
ing in Florida are descendants of that
once invincible nation who we're new
er completely conquered At one time,
it is claimed, there were less than $50
Seminoles left in Florida, but during
the long period of peace with the
''palefaces" their numbers have in
creased until there are now some
thing like 500 of them. These Sem
mole braves are (the greater number
of them, at least) of physical type
that is near perfection. They are
pure in morals, honest among them
selves and to the whites, kind to their
families and devoted to their chill
dren.
One and all they are suspicious of
the motives and designs of white