The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1866-07-28
Bohemian Divorces.


Mr.. Boner, IN his history of the peasantry
of Trans vlvania, fills curious chapter with
an account of the laXity of their marriage
laws. The Lutheran Church is well known
to be less strict this head than either the
Roman Catholic or our own. The usages
existing in Pennsylvania, however, far exceed
the license permissible in Prussia. Mars
riage in Pennsylvania Is as consensual
contract. Rapid separations are matter of
course; and divorces are afterwards granted
on the slightest pretense. There is Il ready
explanation, however, of this discord in mar
ried life. Love marriages are almost I'M
known. In spite of the apparent simplicity
of the Saxon character, greed is the predom>
inant motive in the choice of a husband-
Saxon girls are married almost as early as
Circasslan victims used to be deported to the
seraglio on Bosphorus. To marry her we'll
and be rid of her is Saxon peasants SUI
preme notian of duty to his daughter. He
says: ''it often astonished me to find those
persons with whom | spoke about the fre
quency Of divorce, treat the subject as one Of
tar less Importance than assuredly it really
is. Divorce is thing of such everyday
occurrence, is decided on so lightly and al
lowed SO easily, that it has become a marks
ed feature-indeed, a component part-of
rural Saxcn life. \ separation Of husband
and wife after three, four, or six weeks mar
rage, is nothing strange; and the women
divorced will freq uenty want six or eight
months Of being sixteen Mr.. Boner men>
tons another village in which there were six
teen marriages in the course of the year, but
at the end OF il only six couples were living
together. In Il third village, eleven weddings
were fiyed for ceic JratiOu at the same time
and the clergyman. who seem. to have taken
a II ui.anthroPical, though apparently not i'll.
founded view of Trans ylyauia humanity, pre-
dicted a many Separations and divorces in a
very short time afterwards. Mr. LIZARD
somewhere tells a story OF Shei.sh who lived
in a perpetual honeymoon by marrying
fresh wife every fortnight, and throwing off
the discarded lady on . courti,r. Bat what
In Neso, otania vas merely lie luxury Of
chief. appears in Pennsylvania to be q sort of
domestic right brought home to every ciod-
hoppers door. Mr.. Boner's chapter on the
practice of Transy y.vauian divorce is AS cUri>
Gus as his history OF the misadycn,ures of
marriage. lie says that the one thing is so
certain aud incident of the other, that divorce
is calmly discussed by the young lady's fam
lly before the marriage takes place Instead
of being n terrible contingency that every
mind on the occasion of wedding refuses To
bBt iIbbdgtlllf --Mc SuDl.l say
The neral certainty of the event is plainly
Put forward as dssipating al! objects 10 the
prudence Of the marriage contract. Try TO
like him SAYS the father to his daughter of
ouly fourteen. in answer 20 her objections
- AMI if later you find that You can't DO 50,
rel, I'll haze you serara:ad.' 1t appears
that on the basis Of thi1 cheerful compromise
many repUgnauccs are surmounted. The
separation, too. appears 70 be nearly always
followed by formal divorce, a lo.,cal
sequence. Either party then :,an2lia,elT
rarries again. Tie preliminary, however, Is
4 separation aud it Is arrived at by any OF
the following vague AMI easy preteNts:
have before me list Of separations that
tool. place IT. t,rcu'v villages r one district
IN 1850, 1861 and 1862. and the Cause assign
ell in each case. The number in each case
was thirty. th:rty-fre respective. "A.tiP-
ali;v' Is the r.sson most frequently given.
:. Uom -n.siou 20 marry comes next this,
however = ilusory; , then = drunkenness
:. iusuprrable diS@u-t;' and groandes-
O. fiji mp the list Of ma,ri-
muuial grievances. ore reason is = very
droll 5ue-it is Au1euvcyichn,' which
means that the party lie or she. rolled about
their ewes. Another IS the w.e's stubborn
wavs = one the drunkenness of the f;.,her-
in>law," which ucs certainly rather hard on
the young compile.