Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-06-19
The Frequency Of Divorce.


IL Is our favOr1te boast that we live II an age
OF progress. We claim, with great saf-cOm-
placency, that we are marching Onwa ID more
rapidly towards that ultimate PERFECTION which
humanity Is supposed tObe capable of attaining
than any previous generation that ever lived.
IL cannot be denied that in the material world
Gnr he saes are 'odgou Never be-
mastery over nature. Its forces are harnessed
IN the service OF man. and are doing duty In the
removal OF obstacles which it has placed In the
way or his supplying his wants. But In the
midst OF this wonderful material progress
when we turn to the ethical side of the ac-
count. we not unfrequently encounter some
ugly facts which lead us to question how far
our assumed advance towards a better and
purer earthly life is real In an article In
the North American Recie,c on divorces In
statistics which show that during the last ten
years the ratio of divorces to marriages has
been steadily on the increase The Statistics
are necessarily imperfect, but are sufficiently
me New England states together, the proper.
uon OF divorces to marriages is almost twice as
great as Ten years ago. There is gooa reason to
frequency Of divorce would be shown to have
occurred In the whole country were similar
statistics attainable In the other states; and
Partially account for 1t, still ii must be accented
as proof that there is something In our mod
efn lie which renders men and women more
a al I'M more incapable OF living together happily
ance ror the effects OF additional grounds OF
ulNOIce ~hlcn nave been Incorporated in the
laws, the unwelcome truth remains that our
society Is gradually producing greater pro
portion OF men unfit to be husbands and a
greater proportion OF women unit to be wives
Ihe social position Of divorced persons is not
that most of them will be found to have be-
loDged to the so-called better classes, They
who labor for their bread are Seldom troubled
M rDd H u1e ;, unnappiness They begin mar
burdens and seldom fail one another in IFS
tIlals. But higher up in the social scale the in
compa ha pies become more frequent, and here
tom OF our domestic degeneracy. CHIEF among
them Is the faulty training Of our boys and
girls. Parents and children are alike ambitious
and the result Is that the education of our
t Of getting ahead In life. Boys are not
slbilities 8 ~. the honorable discharge Of
Their intellect is crowded to its utmost limit
and with the stock of knowledge which they
are able to acquire from the schools, they are
70 pc sharp enough to take care of
TEND TO the domestic side of their education.
Ihat Is expected to come some how: meantime
they are pushed into an ability to cope with the
WoIid, without ever being taught the allfm-
portant truth that upon them devolves the Sc
I1ouS duty OF fashioning the world. AS men
tney are averse to self sacrifice, and their selfish
them marriage proves restraint instead of a
happiness, and where both parties are equally
s sen TIE restraint tecomes 1ntolerabie. 4
LIE OF pleaSurab,e self sacrifice is Something
winch they require to be taught, and which
they often refuse to learn. They have never
bestowed thought on how to make themselves
learn after marriage. ~
But the education Of girls is still more defec-
tive. Although woman has by far the larger
are educated as II their destiny were to tsle No
lot or part In 1t. The average girl expects to
marry. To that end she is taught the accom-
pl1shment which make her most attractive to
the susceptible ster4er sex, and her Intellectual
faculties are cultivated to as great an extent as
The necessity OF more superficial requirements
VIII permit The future wife and mother never
creams OF qualifying herself for the duties of
W1fehood and motherhood There Is no compan-
1onsh1p between herself and her mother. The
young people have an existence apart from that
enter; and the example Of home is systematfcai-
~ disregarded, and often despised By the future
proprietress OF a home. The average giris
turn her attention to learning how to make
his home happy afterwards But she has
grown up more selfish than she imagined, and
She often finds that she has undertaken a dIffi-
cult task, and sometimes makes no prolonged
effort to master it. Finding herself Ignorant of
almost everything which she ought to know,
self with being burden instead OF a help to
her husband. The girl whose brilliant social
qualities charm the circle in which She moves
Is as wife often the most helpless creature In
the world. Her moral nature has been hone.
lessly dwarfed and she is really nuisance in
the home which she ought to adorn. Then
comes the familiar story OF incompatdbility OF
evftable sequel OF mutual disappointment Be-
yond doubt much OF the unhappineSs which
attends the lives OF many married persons is due
to the neglect OF home education blythe PARENT.
II the decline Of home education is NECESSARY
result Of our rapid pace in material progress IL
Is not pleasant to contemplate what the society
OF the future VIII be If this pace Is kept up.