The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-02-21
About Divorces.
Why Women Figure Most Frequently as
Plaintiffs.

Plaintiffs.
"About two out of three of all the di-
vorce suits brought are instituted by
women," said a prominent lawyer,
'Eand the causes for it are numerous
and curious. You wouldn' t think, now,
that woman would have more of the ag-
gressive spirit and pluck necessary to go
through with divorces than men, but
they have. Most people are apt to inn
agine that men are the ones to bring
their troubles in court; that they are
by nature likely to choose bold surgi-
cal treatment, as it were, and get their
marital troubles ended completely. 1t
is easy to picture timid woman cow
ering at the thought of lawyers and
courts, and preferring anything to the
publicity of the Common Pleas. But
all that is sentiment and exactly con-
trary to all experience. 1t is the men
who shrink from the divorce courts"
GLOW is that7 was asked.
"First of ALL" explained the lawyer,
"there is the question of expense, which
to man in moderate circumstances
means a great deal. When a man
brings a divorce suit he does so with
his eyes open to the fact that he will
not only have to pay the fees and ex-
penses of the lawyer retained by him,
but also the counsel employed by his
wife, Now, when a woman resolves
upon separation, if she has any good
reason for it, she has the comforting
conviction that it is going to cost her
nothing. In four cases out of five,
where the woman is the plaintiff, the
counsel exacts, say, preliminary fee
of S25, and it is on the distinct under
standing that, in the event of the appli-
cation being successful and the husband
being mulcted in costs, the money is
returned to her. So you see that in the
financial aspect of the question the
woman is at an advantage.
"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 few moments is wrapped up in the
thousand and one interests of the day.
Now, Mrs. 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, unhappinesS.
Now, Blank is devil -may-care sort of
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 hep
That's the question In all probability
he is having rollicking time out some
where.
"Now what does all this lead tor
he continued, energetically. "Well,
I'll tell you. The woman soon begins
to seek for sympathy among the femi
nine friends, and she gets it every time
i don't want you to make any mis-
take about that This sympathy-seek-
ing 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, soon
er or latter, in visit to the divorce
lawyer, and that settles the business.
A man doesn't go and relate his trou-
bles to his friends as woman does.
If he did the proportion of masculine
and feminine plaintiffs would be more
even. 1t is the custom of her husband
to let condolences about domestic mat
tiers severely alone, and so he doesn't
receive any advice which would bring
him within the grasp of the legal pro-
fession.
"Most of the divorce suits brought
nowadays are for the absolute annulling
of the marriage. The courts have
greatly discountenanced divorces with
alimony. In cases where the husband
has to pay the wife's counsel the fee
allowed by the court is S35 and $50.
That's nothing, though, compared with
case l know of, where a husband
some years ago obtained divorce from
the Legislature. He was rich, and it
cost him $4,000. One member
there, he told me, got $40, 900 to vote
for the bill. Seven months after the
passage of the act the the divorced wife
died, and the husband didn't give up
kicking himself for year. His free
dom had cost him just S2I, I,428.5o per
month. He had imagined that his wife
was going to live for years. Nowadays
the Legislature can't grant divorces for
causes that would justify the victim in
applying to the courts"