The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-06-13

conduct against the other for which there
may have been no real justification.
"IncompatibiIity' may seem to be too
vague cause for decree. But if the
word expresses an actual and incurable
condition, is it not, after all, sufficient
ground for separation? And why should
people suited for the marriage state if
properly mated, be compelled to remain
single on decree of separation merely,
as some advocate, because they happened
to make one serious mistake? There
seems to be no good reason why that
error should be rendered fatal or ire
parable.
A great many religious people will not
admit the riglltfulness OF divorce except
for one criminal cause. But where is the
good sense of keeping woman tied to a
man whom she despises for his brutality
which need not be exhibited in physi-
cal violence to be unbearable-or for his
general unworthiness, proven to be in
grained and haoitual in any given direc-
ton? Also why should man be bound
to common scoId whom marriage has
developed into vixen, or to being, for
any sufficient reason, unfit for wife and
mother, but not yet unvirtuous, as that
term is commonly understood?
Divorce may be great evil when it is
allowed for trivial and insufficient causes.
but what can be much greater evil than
the compulsory intimate association OF
woman with man as his wife, when
every sentiment of her soul and impulse
of her body cries out against that
relation and peremptorily forbids it7
What kind of children will be the
fruits Of such an unnatural union? And
will not society be the gamer by sepa-
ration of such unsuitable pairs than by
forbidding them to part and thus making
probable q criminal OF partly insane off
spring?
No doubt when it comes to cases of I'M
faithfulness to the marriage VOW by
which unchastity is understood, women
have greater cause than men to sue for
divorce. But for many other alleged
reasons women are very frequently more
to blame than men in seeking for judi
clal separation. There is a spirit of dis
content among some of them which rem
ders them for ever dissatisfied and ii
laws we're not to some extent strict and
prohibitory they would play fast and lose
perpetually.
The way to reform divorce will be
found in the reform of marriage. If
greater care is taken in contracting
that relation it is more likely to be
las ing. The cause for many divorces
lies in hasty and ill-considered matri-
mony. The suitability of the parties is
not tested before the knot is tied. In
clination, fascination, "falling in love''
as it is termed, take the place of that
thoughtful and prudent judgment which
should determine beforehand the congen-
iality and adaptibility OF the parties.
Marriage is 200 lightly entered into, d.
vorce is too quickly sought as remedy
for disagreements. The law should be
framed so as TO prevent both these evils as
much as possible, but the moral influences
that lie behind and are superior to all
legislation must be brought to bear on the
young men and women just emerging
into the active duties of life or the evils
complained of will continue and increase.
! The mind as we'll as the heart must be ex-
cised in the selection of partner for life
or the plumbers that cause divorce will be
as numerous as ever.