The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-11-15
o DIVORCES.
a Lawyer Explains Why Women Figure
Most Frequently as plaintiffs.

Philadelphia Press.
about two out of three Of all the divorce
suits brought in this city are instituted by
women" said "a prominent lawyer, yesterday,
'and the causes Tor it are numerous and curl
Gus. You wouldn't think, now, that women would
have more of the aggressive spirit and the pluck
necessary to 60 through with divorces than men,
but they have. Most people are apt to imagine
that men are the ones to bring their troubles
into court; that they are by nature likely to
choose a bold surgical treatment, as it were, and
get their marital troubles ended completely. 1t
is easy to picture a timid woman covering at
the thought of lawyers and courts, and prefer
ring anything to the publicity of the Common
Pleas. But all that is sentiment and exactly
contrary to all experience. 1t is the men who
shrink from the divorce courts"
'lIow is thatF' he asked.
First OF all" explained the lawyer, there
is the question of expense, which to a man
in moderate circumstances means a great deal.
When a man brings Il divorce suit he does so
with his eyes open to the fact that he will not only
have to pay the fees and expenses of the lawyer
retained by him, but also the counsel employed
by the wife. Now when a woman resolves upon
a separation, if she has any good reason for it,
she has the comforting conviction that 1t is go
ing to cost her nothing. In four cases out of
five, where the woman is the plaintiff, the coun-
sci eXacts, say, a preliminary fee of $50, and it
is on the distinct understanding that in the
event of the application being successful and the
husband being mulcted in costs the money is re
NNHLO1 ~ nv ~ ~ ~ NhtN 10 Wv H@HNN
aspect of the question the woman is at an ad-
vantage.
Then" the lawyer went on, "the woman feels
her wrongs much more than the man. Mr..
Blank bears the situation sullenly, but very well.
When he leaves the house in the morning he
bangs the door spitefully after him, and in a
few moments is wrapped up in the thousand and
one interests OF the day. Now Mr.. Blank hears
that spiteful door-bang and broods over it, and
is mad all the morning because she can't reply to
it. The house is her world, and everything
about it suggests Mr.. Blank. and. of course, I'M
happiness. Now Blank is a devil may-care sort
of a fellow. He gets drunk at his club, and
comes home or stays away, Just as he thinks fit.
The world says nothing. When he feels mad he
can go to his home, break up the furniture, and
swear at his wife until he gets tired, and then
can rush out of the front door. But when his
wife is aggravated and feels like annoying
Blank, where is hel That's the question:! In
all probability he is having a rollicking time out
somewhere
Now wha does all this lead to?7 he contin-
ued, energetically. "Well, I'll tell you. The
woman soon begins to seek for sympathy among
her feminine friends, and she gets it every time
i don't want you to make any mistake about
that. This sympathy-seeking is responsible for
half the marital litigation. 1t doesn't take long
for the lady to magnify her troubles, and then
her friends make a martyr out of her and cause
her to believe that she is the most interestingly
ill-used being on earth. while in all probability
she is nothing of the kind. This ends, sooner
VI dtCI III q Nlolb W lAC QlNOItG ldWAcIs III
that settles the business. A man doesn't go and
relate his troubles to his friends as a woman
does. If he did the proportion of masculine
and feminine plaintiffs would be more even. 1t
is the custom of the husband to let confidence
about domestic matters severely alone,
and so he doesn't receive any advice
which would bring him within the grasp of the
legal profession. You can see how dispropor-
Tomato the figures are, when l tell you that for
the December term sixty-four divorce suits have
been entered in the Common Pleas Court,
and that of these forty four were instituted by
wives and only twenty by husbands That, l
calculate, is the usual ratio here in Philadelphia.
Most of the divorce suits brought nowadays
in this city are for the absolute annulling of the
marriage. The co1EtS-Lavs greatly discOunte-
naneed divorces with ~alinony. Those cases
where the wife wants support continued are
COnrt. Lots of wives who commence
with the idea of obtaining divorces end
up in the Desertion Court highly satisfied. A
divorce cannot be got for less than $S5-that is
the point to which competition has brought it
down. In cases where the husband has to pay
the wife's counsel, the fee allowed by the court
is $50 and $50. That's nothing, though, com
pared with IA case / know of where a husband.
some years ago, obtained a divorce from the
Legislature. He was rich, and it cost him $3.50
600; One member there. he told me, got $40, 900
to vote for the bill, Seven months after the
passage of the act the divorced wife died, and
the husband didn't give up kicking himself for a
year. His freedom had cost him just $2l, 428. 80
per month. He had imagined that his wife was
going to live for years. Nowadays the Legisla
ture can't grant divorces for causes that would
justify the victim in applying to the courts"