The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-11-10
YESTERDAY IN PORTLAND CHURCHES.
The Subject Of Divorce Reform
Treated by Rev. Or. Dixie.
Rev. Or. Fenn's Lecture on "The
Kaiser and the Gar"
Sermons Preached at the First Par
Ish and Williston.

The pastor Of the Second Parish church,
yesterday Afternoon, introduced the Rev.
DIR. S. W. Dixie, as his friend and classmate,
then the choir sang "a Hymn of Christian
Welcome" Dr. Dixie had spoken at the
State street church in the morning. He is
not what is usually called an orator, but he
Is clear headed, plain speaking man, whose
earnestness and thorough mastery of all the
facts and all the figures pertaining to his
subject enabled him to interest and hold the
attention of his audience. He had no text
or manuscript and he left off when he got
through. By way Of illustration he re-
marked that all great inventions are the re-
suit Of prolonged study. So 10 reform work
large, accurate knowledge is an indipensible
preliminary. Then dwelling upon the i'm
portance of the family in our social struc-
ture he related curious fact. In a little
town in Vermont. where he formerly lived,
town Of very few hundreds Of inhabi-
tants, the house next to that which he occu-
pied was the house in which was born Jacob
Collamer, afterwards United States Senator
and Postmaster General. In the next was
born Harrington, one of the best known
Mormon Apostles. In house close by a
Christian mother had three daughters. One
became the wife of Horace Maynard, the
distinguished Tennessee statesman, and the
others were mothers Of well-known mis-
sionaries. In another house close by fam
lily dwelt represented by two generations Of
its members in the state prison. Others he
named in the same village. Only mile and
a half away was born Orestes A. Brownson,
the ablest convert the Catholic church ever
made in this country. Only two miles off
lived until he was sixteen years old Joseph
Smith, the great Mormon leader. How can
this diversity of results be accounted for?
By the influences Of the church and the
school-hOuse and especially OF the home.
DR.. Dixie referred to the various branches of
Christian work In which his hearers were
interested and then proceeded to dwell upon
the work for the home. The National Di-
vorce Reform League has much wider field
than one might infer from its name. Four
or five directions in which
is is working and in which
there is great work to be done were specially
named. Improvement In the laws regulat-
ing divorce has been aimed at and in several
states obtained already. Some. Is or 20
measures have been adopted and nowhere
have any been receded from when once
adopted. But legislation Is no more import
ant than investigation, and he limited here
that the American Missionary Association
and other organizations before long will
have to adopt similar methods of getting
facts upon which to work. After paying
deserved compliment to Colonel Carroll ID.
Wright of the National Bureau Of Statistics
of Labor, he mentioned some Of the figures
disclosed by his Investigations. 1t is not
necessary here to repeat them but they were
suggestive enough. For example, there
were in the 20 years ending in 1886 so many
as 32S, ZIG div vorceS, OF which 1922 were in
Maine. The most striking thing disclosed
by these figures was the tremendous increase
in the number Of divorces. In 1867 in the
whole country there were 9937 divorces. In
1886 there were 25,535, an increase nearly
three times as large proportionately as that
in population. This tendency has been
checked only in three or four states, of
which Maine is happily one. In the past
Maine has been one of the half dozen states
where divorces have been more frequent.
Speaking briefly of the causes OF divorces,
sometimes honestly alleged and sometimes
facts, such as that the average
duration Of the married life Of divorced cou-
pies was about nine years and two months,
and similar matters. DIR. Dixie spoke OF the
proposed constitutional amendment in re-
gard TO divorce laws and thought 1t uncalled
for at present But he did favor uniformity
of legislation on this and kindred matters.
such as has been given start in New York
by the appointment of commission to con-
slider the subject Then the speaker refer
red to educational work for the benefit of
the family, and as a specimen of practical
work referred to the extension of the sphere
of the Sunday school which is now being
carried out, so that in some places there are
more scholars who stay at home than who
go to tine place of meeting. Usually Chris
tian work is for the organized bodies and for
the cities. Here is a chance to do good work
where it is most needed. He referred to the
extension Of the work in Europe, in Austria
liza and in Japan, and to the great interest
taken in it in our colleges and higher schools
and ended rather abruptly while his hearers
were not at all weary, and left them ready
to hear him again.