The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-01-12

Yesterdays dispatches gave an &C.
count Of the unhappy experiences of
Miss Manchester, the young English
woman who holds peculiar views in re-
gard TO the marriage ceremony. Be
cause Miss Manchester, hitherto repu-
table person, expressed not only will
ingness but determination to join her
life and fortunes to those OF her lover
without legal formality, she was pro-
nounced to be of unsound mind, and has
had to engage in contest with the law
in order to prove her sanity. Whatever
the courts may finally decide. ccnserva-
tive persons will remain convinced that
the English girl is "looney." 1t is, per-
haps. the part of charity to take this
view, and yet it must be acknowledged
that If the young woman has been maxi
ing a study OF divorce court literature
she has some justification for holding
disrespectful opinions of legal matri-
mony. and that such opinions need not
be wholly incompatible with sanity. In
the same paper which describes Miss
Lanchester's case is the story Of an In
dianapolis couple anxious to get rid of
its shackles. She had not heard of the
woes of this pair before taking her own
remarkable stand, but had she done so
the relation would at least have added
nothing to her reverence for marriage
bonds. 1t appears that this couple be-
gan life together on a commercial basis.
The woman married the man with the
object in view of becoming a social
leader" through the aid Of his money.
She stipulated that she should be pro-
vided with fine house, handsome
clothes, a carriage and coachman, and
should be driven every day on aristo-
cratic Meridian street. The husband,
apparently agreeing with her that these
Injuries were essential to matrimonial
happiness. furnished them and added
piano. sealskin coat and $50 a month
cash into the bargain. Still, they were
not happy. Singular to relate, she did
not break into society, much less lead"
ii. Neither the clothes nor the coach
man served as open sesame. Possibly
she did not drive up and down Meridian
street often enough TO work the charm,
since that thoroughfare has for some
years been a road so rocky that even
aristocratic bones could not stand the
jolting. However this may be, the lady
finally decided that her husbands lack
of style and culture was keeping her
out of the promised land, and. as she
had married him for the sake Of enter
ing there, why keep him when he had
failed to fulfill his part of the contract?
Divorce was the remedy. and divorce is
demanded. This is the situation as out
lined by the published proceedings.
Miss Lanchester's friends have found
it impossible to convince her Of her folly
in defying the law of the state and Of
society, or to prove to her that what she
chooses to regard as a foolish conven-
tionality has a profound moral basis.
On the other hand, it is no doubt equally
useless to explain to the lady of the di-
vorce suit that marriage should not be
entered into solely for the sake of win
ming social supremacy; that it is some
thing more than a matter of clothes and
carriages, sealskin coats and pianos.
Even if it were possible under any cir
exclusive circles by galloping up Me-
ridian street certain number of times,
it is hardly fair to visit punishment upon
the man who furnishes the horses when
the combination fails because the car
riage load is too heavy.
The real trouble is not with matri-
mony itself, but with fools. There are
fools and fools. The latest phase Of
idiocy is opposition to legal marriage at
the outset; the other phase. that of
wrenching at irksome bonds hastily and
lightly assumed, is old. but is as little
edifying. Until common sense is more
widely diffused and human nature nearer
to perfection, matrimonial eccentricities
will exist and will serve to amuse and
entertain the onlookers at the human