WOMAN

VOLUME X

WOMEN OF AMERICA

BY

JOHN ROUSE LARUS

HUEMAC II. MEETS XOCHITL
After the painting by L. Obregon

Huemac II. began to reign in Mexico about 995, in what is called the Toltec period. Xochitl, accompanied by her father, a nobleman, went to the court of Huemac, carrying with her as an offering to the king a beverage which she had invented. The king tasted the wine, and desired to have more. Later, Xochitl returned to the court, and Huemac, who already was fascinated with the girl, caused her to be retained, and sent a message to her father that he had placed her in the care of his court ladies and would complete her education. Shortly afterward his queen died, and Huemac immediately made Xochitl his queen.

Woman

In all ages and in all countries

VOLUME X

WOMEN OF AMERICA

BY

JOHN ROUSE LARUS

Illustrated

PHILADELPHIA
GEORGE BARRIE & SONS, PUBLISHERS

INTRODUCTION

The present volume completes the story of woman as told in the series of which it forms part. The history of nations is, in its ultimate analysis, largely that of woman. Therefore this series in its wide inclusiveness forms a more than ordinarily interesting history. The present study of the women of America is innocent of theorizing or philosophy and from the nature of the subject the narrative takes the reader into paths generally unfamiliar in historic studies.

Of the North American aboriginal woman the knowledge possessed admits of but broad generalities as to her status and condition. The author of this volume has, however, happily extracted from the available sources what is informing as to the position of the woman so that a better conception of her will be the part of his readers. It will be seen that she has not always been the neglected and unconsidered creature that the popular mind has accepted. Instead, she has held among many tribes a higher place of power than man, and that by custom and in fact she was held in high consideration. The condition of the aboriginal woman before the advent of the white race was not that to which she fell as the consequence of that advent. In the present work notable instances in support of this view will be found. In considering the moral status and the customs of the aborigines it should be borne in mind that morality is standardized by nations or peoples for themselves, and the morality of individuals must be measured by its relation to convention to this respect. In this connection the author concludes that the morality of the Indian woman is of at least average excellence. That contact with the white man arrested--or as the author maintains "degraded"--the progress of civilization, slow as that progress may have been among the aborigines, cannot be doubted, nor that there was "a reversion to a more barbarous type than had before been prevalent."

As we consider the principles of government among the North American tribes we find that the matriarchal system prevailed. The Salic Law, whether in its general or its restricted meaning, was little favored among them. If in the history of these people a Queen Esther stands forth as a cruel monster, did not proud Rome produce a Messalina? Or need we go beyond the records of a later date of the people of one of the most cultured nations of Europe? And yet Esther was among the foes, the despoilers of her people, while Messalina found her victims among her own people. It may not be amiss to recall the incident of Frances Slocum as an evidence that the life of woman among the Indians was not necessarily distasteful. Altogether, the author of this volume writes sympathetically of the vanishing Amerinds,--which in no way lessens the value of his study,--and furnishes many little known or hardly remembered anecdotes of their women, while his succinct descriptions of their polity and of the lot and place of woman among them is both highly entertaining and instructive.

The women of Mexico and South America furnish scanty material for the study of woman. Nevertheless, from the records of the Aztec civilization the author has abstracted the salient features of the life of their women. It will be seen that the Aztec woman enjoyed a higher status than was attained by the woman of any other native American race. Her legal rights were carefully protected; the marriage tie was severely safeguarded; the education of girls was committed to the care of priestesses; and in social functions woman was the equal of man. Domestic life presented a very pleasing aspect and even slaves--slavery was generally confined to those taken in war--enjoyed greater privileges than among any other people. The period of the conquest furnishes a Marina to exemplify the fidelity and devotion of which the native woman was capable. That of the Spanish occupation offers little of interest concerning the womanhood of Mexico, and not until the republic had acquired a distinct nationality, in fact as well as in name, do we find a Mexican type. This period the author regards as the best, but soon the adoption of European and North American fashions and customs destroyed the characteristic Mexican type. This resultant he claims is further deteriorated by the later "veneer" or hybrid culture borrowed from the same sources. The leading characteristics of the native civilization of South America are traced and the salient features of the life and status of its women are presented. Among the Incas equality with men and a condition for woman as favorable as among the Aztecs is shown to have prevailed.

An interesting account is given of the culture of the Araucanians, the desperate warriors who resisted the Spanish invaders long after the rest of the tribes of Chile had submitted to the conquerors. The status of the women of this tribe, and of the peculiar marriage customs is especially interesting; so is the account of the women of the Gauchos whose preeminent claim to notice in a history of woman is that they are "the most unmoral women on the face of the earth." There is also a brief but none the less informing account of the women of the greatest of South American countries, Brazil, which better than any other southern republic exhibits the advance made in the position and influence of woman in national progress and well-being.

The record of individual women in this section is scanty; but the general outline of the growth of feminine influence in recent times is noted. Woman in politics, in revolutionary movements, and, still more notably, woman in the social and educational progress that is now making the best history of South America the author discriminatingly presents to the reader, with individual mention of foremost leaders of thought.

Of the American woman proper, the author follows the steps from settlement days when the principles were to be tested which moved the Pilgrims to self-exile. Her influence and her initiative, illustrated by characteristic story and narrative of environment, are presented with precision and clearness so that the reader can grasp the subtle power exercised by woman during the formative period. Similarly are the women of the great colony to the South considered, and the points of divergence and their causes and results noted as compared with the northern colony.

The typical American woman is remarkable among women not merely as a type, but also because she is