San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-01-26

In twenty years priorTtO 1856 the
United Kingdom had 65S7 divOr-
ces; Russia, 1886; France, 57,1l6;
Germany, 93,SlS; all Europe, 1885,
1872; the United States, 32S,716.
The meanest reason ever given
by man for marrying was assign
ed by an Englishman forty years
ago. He married because he want
ed somebody to part his hair
straight.
In Kentucky a divorce was once
granted because "the defendant
came into the bedroom the morn
ing after the marriage and beat
this plaintiff on the head with her
shoe heel"
Divorce in France is regulated
by law on the theory that a wife
is her husbands equal; she does
not promise to obey ; she retains
her own property and may dis
pose of it by will.
A Kansas wife was released
from her husband because she
stated in her petition, "the defend
ant pinched the nose of this plain
tiff, causing it to become very red,
thereby causing the plaintiff great
l.pain and anguish of mind"
If wife in India is abandoned
by her husband, she waits eight
years if he has gone on a pilgrim
age, six if he went to study and
three if he travelled for pleasure,
and then is legally divorced and
may remarry at her pleasure.
The increase of divorce in this
country is without parallel. In
Texas, during the ten years from
1870 to 1880, the increase was 80
per cent over the preceding ten
years; in Arkansas, 229 per cent {;
in Alabama, 222; in Mississippi,
2O9; in Missouri, II.
Among the Saxons, a wife was
divorced by sale. A husband, with
the consent of the wife, put hal
ter round her neck, led her to the
nearest market town and disposed
OF her at auction to the highest
bidder, making speech in which
he set forth her good and evil
qualities.
Some states prohibit marriages
between whites and -blooded
negroes or Indians; others legalize
marriage between whites and octO-
rooms; in one or two no degree is
mentioned, but marriage is forbid
den between white man or woman
and a "persOn of color to be percep-
tible to the eye"
In 1866 the states of Illinois, In
diana, Iowa and Kansas lacked but
seven Of the number of divorces
granted In France; Ohio, Texas,
Pennsylvania, New York and Wis
cOnsin jointly equalled Germany;
Austria had three more than Ken
lucky; Italy had two, more than
Connecticut; Belgium had twenty
nine more than Georgia.
Nearly all the States fix a period
after the expiration of which
husband or wife abandoned by the
other becomes legally free. The
period is from two to seven years,
and the absence must be counted
from the time the last tidings were
received from the absent partner,
rumOrs not being considered as
tidings.
A marriage contracted according
to the laws of England or of the
United States is not valid in
France unless all the details of
French law are complied with.
The American woman who mar
ries a Frenchman in this country
is not, in the eye of the French
law, his wife until all the require
ments of the Code Napoleon have
been complied with.
In France the Code Napoleon is
still in force, and marriage, to be
legal, must have not only the con-
sent of both contracting parties,
but that of their fathers and
mothers on both sides failing that
of their grandfathers and grand
if there be none of these
relatives, of the oldest members of
the families to which both belong
If consent be refused, the man
being %, the woman q, they in
DIES actes respecteux; that |
is TO say, they go to law with all
their kin to compel them to show
cause why the marriage should not
take place.