Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1873-04-16
Divorce.

licities in Washington county has again been
gathered in The feast has been spread,
and enjoyed by such as have a relish for
the not over choice yiands that the cuisine
Of unhappy alliances provides garuished
with faded aud odorless orange.bossoms
aud bcdizcncd myrtles That beautiful .
word forever" has been torn from several .
rose-coorcd tablets and educed to a period /
upon the dry and uniading page Of the
Court calender. The hymonial statute Of
limitation" till death US do part en-
joined with the double force Of statute and
Of sanctuary-has been abbreviated with
scratch Of the same pen that recorded the
damages 10 the last assumpsit" and The
90 holy estate created 10y the impressive
language Of the g FORM" discovered With
all the cold rigili,y Of a riff in an ice
float
Tho causes known to the law which may
endin divorcearc not numerous but'o cumu-
n
contested cases all the oiienscs known 70 the
decalogue, and some never dreamed Of, are
marshaled to the contest by the contending
parties. The average divorce case docs not
very much disturb the social world. Out
side Of a few immediate relatives and
friends there is scarcely ripple and the
event Of separation passes Oft with as lit
lie jar to the social economy, as attended
the coming together. At least such was
the case under the old system when the I'M
tying was performed entirely by the Su-
preme Court, and the parties and their wit
uesses ouly appeared upon paper. The
transfer Of these causes to the County Court,
"a change insiigatcd by those who believed
it would be a hiudrance to applications, aud
diminish the number Of diyorces,) if the tri.
ais were to be made more public by the or
binary course Of proceedings, as in other
causes, has produced the contrary result,
as the long list Of divorces granted at
every term OF the Court fully demonstrates
Divorce, popularzed by this transfer,
stands in about the same relation to the old
method that the "nationol game" Of base
ball does to the more quiet pastime that
the present grown-up generation found in
the old fashioned, Fast-day, baru.raisinp
game Of "round ball" Then nobody was
much hurt, the game euded pleasantly for
the victors, and the yauquishod we're not un-
comfortably demorolzcd, The modern pro.
cess knocks dgils from their proper rerpen.
dicularity, turns poses awry, and distributes
black eyes around the "fed" with the LID.
crafty Of a dollar store" or gift min.
strel show. There is a great similarity in
the result Of the now holly contested d..
vorce case. Neither party escapes uuscatb.
ed. and the public to some extent becomes
embroiled. "The best nine, on both side.
have their friends. and it is as hard for
some to keen out Of this social melee as
out of doe.Grht in the street. or y we'd.
ding in church
The docket has been growing more
plethoric in its divorce department ever since
the Inauguration of the present system of
disposing Of unhappy marriages. The regis.
tration report for 1870, which contains the
latest statistics at hand on this point gives
total enforcement in the State Of lG4 for
that year, or one ia eighteen of all mar.
riages--an increase of over 10 over the for
mer year
The report for 1869 adds to its statistics
that divorces have been too easily procured
in this State, aud the sauctity Of the mar
riage relation has in consequence been
greatly lessened. As the law now stands,
the difficulty procuring divorces is greater.
and we may look for decrease in their
number" This hopeful view of the matter
has certainly not been realized, as any Que
must be aware who has observed the later
county divorce records.
But we do not aim in this article to be
statistical. 1t is the greater publicity that
is given to trials for divorce undsr the nre.
sent law-the Transforming of the court.
room into an arena for low comedy 70,
from one to two weeks each term. that W,
object to- /" Closed doors" are not in or
der for any tribunal Of Justice, although
recognized by n recent enactment updo,
certain circumstances. but the ppbyie shout,
not be unnecessarily attracted 70 exhibi
tons which only tend to demoralize. an,
CRAFTY morbid and vulgar taste when m,
end 10 be accumulated can he reacbe,
through less conspicuous channel Ifw,
have no sympathy for the unfortunate vic
Tins of a divorce suit we would Withhold,
from the public all we could of This branel
Of education. Necessary as il NAV some
, times be to grant divorces. the nroces
should be surrounded with all the nrecau
tionary obstacles that indicate the Location
of the village powder.house or tho case q
smallpox. The seethipg mass of testimony