The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-10-01
FETTERED FREEDOM.
The Social Life Of the Divorced
Woman by no Means Happy.

The speaker was a beautiful woman
about thirty-hve. She possessed all
those poetic curves, warm tints and
facile expressions that appeal to ones
admiration and indicate an emotional
and art istic temperament. Her eyes
were those in which tears and
laughter kiss each other, but about
her lips lurked the disdainful smile of
one who, having looked on at a mas
auerade, has grown weary of it's tin
sci and gambols, its motley and up
roar.
She sat in a drawing room furnished
with luxurious appointments, writes
E. s.. v. in the Baltimore Herald.
/ Costly etchings adorned its delicately
tinted walls. Rare bronzes, china
and glass Uttered it's tables. Great
mirrors reflected an interior like that
of a bit of French art. A cluster of
orchids nodded from al exquisite
vase. a piece of dainty embroidery
was tossed on a silken cushion-every
detail marked the perfect taste OF a
refined !.
sSurely one might be happy here, 7"
thought the writer, as she noticed the
lace on Nine. La Divorces gown, and
then with a realizing sense OF her own
general shabbiness, looked down at
her mud-stained tweed.
The rain was beating heavily
against the windows, but on n
hearth glowed a fire that was a per-
feet joy.
IA state of continual torment re-
1 ---4-l NErIrno clntulu lnnkinO in
the glowing Goals and searching there
for the past.
And YETI she went on talking to
herself. 1--WE were both weary of
chains that CALLED us. We have out
lived all those emotions that prompt
people to one mad step-Inarriage.
We had burnt our hearts out and
found no pleasure in stirring the en-
bers. 1t was a tremendous bOrerthat
living together Of two human beings
who tolerated each other for the sake
of the bugaboo called society. 1t be-
came worse than a bore-it was a hor-
ror. So we decided on a divorce.
ut was not without some struggle
that I came to the conclusion that a
divorce was the only way out. / had
been brought up to the belief that
whom God hath joined, etc. / I'M
derstood, or thought l did, what the
fate of a divorced woman might be.
And then there was another struggle.
| had ceased to love my husband, but
not the memory of my love. Do you
know the differences? 1t is as ii you
possess an idol that you have wor-
shipped for years, honestly believing
it to be pure gold. You may have
detected flaws here and there-an ugly
seam, perhaps. Still 1T is your idol,
aud on that account must be OF gold,
Well, one day you discover that it IS
ONLY a wooden image, or worse, one OF
CLAW: and in your fury and anguish
YOU hurl it from your pedestal and
leave it lying a shapeless, huddled
mass on the floor.
sAnd you intend to throw the whole
thing away some day. It's worthless.
Why should you keep it? And yet,
and yet, when your housekeeping day
comes and you say, Now | will make
a clean sweep Of it today you falter,
hesitate, stand looking at this fetch,
and remember when you first pos
sessed it. and ten to one you turn the
kew OF the room III which it lies and
90 softly away. That, my dear, is
what keeps so many husbands and
wives together.
But it didn't hold us. l remember
the day when l said to hint have
decided that it will be better for us to
live apart Very WE'LL said he,
carelessly; suit YOURSELF There was
a moments silence, and then | added:
IL want the separation irrevocable-
1 wish a divorce Do you know l
didn't know my own voice? l always
think of it, such a day IS this. The
rain dashed against the windows, ust
as it is coming now, and n lire
snapped on the hearth, just as that
fire is swapping. l heard he clock
ticking, yes, and my heart beat. he
did not look at me as he answered.
You shall have your hearts DESIRE
:'Then he went out of the oom and
closed the door behind him, and | felt
that nv life was shut on an unhappy
past. | was exultant, triumphant. l
gloried in my courage. i shall be
free.'I said over and over to myself.
| looked at my flushed face in the
mirror, and was glad to see how fair
it was. / am young | said, life is
not yet over.
II did not see my husband again
until / sat a few feet from him in the
courtroom. There was very little
trouble about securing the divorce.
1t is easy if both are willing. | re-
member the day when my lawyer con-
graduated me and called me by my
maiden name. | did not feel quite as
happy as / had supposed | should.
.sThen there came a curious day
when my ex-husband came to pack up
his favorite books and some curios, of
which he was very fond. l sat in my
room over the library where he was
at work. I could hear him moving
things about. Once | heard him
whistling Annie Laurie.'n
1T was nearly dusk when he left
the house. l stood at the window
and watched him walk down the
street. / vaguely wondered if he
would look back.
ut was not many weeks before l
thoroughly appreciated the position
q divorced woman has in society.
Nothing had been urged against me.
There had been no blemish on my
reputation. Still people appeared to
think there ought to be. Now mark
the. different attitudes of the sexes on
this question. Women took the de-
fensive, smen the aggressive. Women
| Dyspepsia
Makes many lives miserable. and often leads to