The Orangeburg democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1879-1881, 1879-07-11
MASSACHUSETTS MORALITY.
A SAD SHOWING IN THE DIVORCE CoUR,
'5s' OF THE OLD BAY STATE. p

ntuss., ihfhlshcS tHc loiioWlnS a
bevy Of girls, none of them seemingly
more than twenty years.:>ia! yeaa!, !G;lleta ZIP
the hill that leads to the county Court
House, last week, and passed into
the old gray stone building. Almost
all of them were accompanied by
elderly women, although one or two
were with sprucely' dressed young
men. The venerable Ju,lge Otis
Lord, of Salem, took his'seat upon
the bench and called The Fist case on
docket for the term of the Supreme
Court. There stepped forward n
blue eyed girl, whose light brown
hair fell upon her back in heavy
braid, the ends Of which were con
cealed in blue knot. An elderly
woman stood one side Of her and n
young man with n flowing beard on
the other. Then the girl told her
story. She wanted q divorce from
her husband. Judge Lord locked at
her critically fer an instant, as
though nstonished, not so much that
a pretty girl, who drcssedaand looked
as though she had run into court
from school, should want divorce
as that she should have already been
It
married. But She said she had been
married four years and that her hus-
band had left her after living With
her few weeks. She admitted that
the husband had been living iii the
county, but urged with, pretty
trcmulousness, that he would not live
with her. Her mother and the young
man with the beard corroborated her
story, and she went out oil court smil-
ing, and was congratulated by several
of the other girls and by two or three
young men. a. r.
Another case was called. There
stepped to the stand slender, gray
eyed girl. She scemedfto be less
than eighteen years old. %Her feeble,
tottering mother was with her. Yet
she had been married, she said. five
years, and her husbandswould not
support her after tlS iirst three
months Of her welded life. The hus-
band, tieshy young man, stood up
in conrt and admitted it. Judge
Lord frowned and nestled in his seat.
But he simply SAID, II will consider
the matter"
A plump, rosy checked woman,
with u literary appearance, that may
have been caused by the eye. glasses
she wore, stepped up next. Her hus-
band was sea captain, who had
promised to take her to sea, but when
he got rs far as Boston with her he
left her at hotel.
"Wcll, why lid lie leave you?"
81 suppose he loved another wo-
man better"
This sea captain had lived with the
girl few months, and although he
has often been in the same town since
lie has left her, yet he had refused 10
have anything to do with her for three
years. Tic young woman got the
decree she desired aud q clerical
looking man escorted her from court.
Next came pale faced girl, whose
features were regular, but whose COM
plcxion was sallow. She, seemed
sickly. She was married in 1874,
after a week of honeymoon her hus-
band left her with the remark that he
wanted nothing more to do with her.
"Did you go to him Z" "No, sir"
"Why not 2 "Bccausc his mother
was always picking at me and filming
ing fault"
Then Judge Lord, who had been
visibly growing Indignant, arose =
"lt is shocking to contemplate the
state of morals in this great common.
wealth that is here to be observed.
Has it come to this? l am here to
administer The law rs it stands. 7 he
law says deserton for three years is
cause for divorce. But | sec clearly
how il operates. A young man and
woman agree to get II arricd. They
feel That they'll live together so long
as they find it mutually pleasant and
agreeable so to do, and then, by q
sort OF tacit understanding, they car
live sepcrate, ana then one OF the
other at the end of three years brings
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