Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-01-23
TANGLED
HAPPINESS
Sadly Complicates NewsY ork's
Smart Set. 1
y
"A NEW DEC0RUM NEEDED.
us Drifting Towards the Japa-
nese Custom.

nese Custom.
What will be the condition OF society
thirty years from nowP
It would puzzle the finest prophet that
EVER lived to answer this question accu-
xately, because of the growing of the d.
VOICE habit in the smart set. A dozen
years w q divorced oma could knock
1t the social door, and no matter how
great her wealth or how powerful her fam
lily she would knock in vain.
Bat NIL this is changed. Divorced wives
marrv divorced gentlemen aud divorced
husbands marry divorced ladies. Out in
the wide world nothing very serious re-
suits from alliances OF this kind but within
che narrow circle of swelldom. which is
nothing more than One big family, strange
embarrassment are bound TO result.
1t certainly looks as though a new form
at etiquette should be devised to meet the
divOrce emergency, The children of all
these tangled marriages will be completely
1t sea when they grow up and take their
respective places Ia the giddy whirl. 1t is
easy to imagine the predicament which a
society leader twenty years hence will be
thrown into when her daughter says:
mi mma, what will l do when l meet
Ethel Jones? You know she is the daugh-
Ter of your first husband by that odious
MIS-. b., who was dive reed from Uncle
Tom. Then there is Nellie Smith, you
know she was papa's daughter by his first
wife, who married Uhcle Toms chum, the
rich banker, Smith? What will l do when
4 meet her?"
Mamma might avoid the issue by falling
q faint, bnt she can't faint all the time
and the issue will be forever present.
This may seem an exaggeration Of the
condition of affairs. but it isn't. It's q
frivolous way ct putting q mighty serious
prObler:, but the problem Is there, strong
enough.
A TERRIFIC TANGLE
Just look at a few of the fashionable mar
siages within the last six months, and then
try to unravel the future complications,
first. Mrs. Ferdnand0 Yznaga marries the
Count Itchy. A few months ago Mrs.
Yxuaga, who was Mabel Wright to begin
with, got q divorce from Yznaga. This
was the second divorce experience of Yzna
n. Els first wife was Miss Gerry Smith,
q sister of the divorced wife of w. K.
Vanderbilt. After Yznaga's first wife got a
divorce from him she married George Tit
Eaay. Yznaga has not yet married again,
but he is fairly young and quite rich.
Now all these divorced people are apt to
meet 1t any time, for they all move in the
same small circle. But there are other
complications. Mrs. w. X. Vanderbilt's
Marriage to Oliver II. p. Belmont 0pensup
another vista of entangl1ments, As every
00o knows W. K. Vanderbilt and his wife
vere divorced some time ago. Mr.. Belmont
Is also divorced. His first wife was Miss
Sake w hitting. She got q divorce from
AiQ some ten years ago and married Mr..
George Rives, taking with her her young
odAnghter. The child's name has been L.
Sgaily changed from Belmont to Rives. Now
SAO0ld the rumOr prove true that Willie
r. Vanderbilt Is to marry the Duchess of
Manchester, an endless chain of divorces
md marriages will be established, for the
D0chess Of Manchester is q sister of Fer.
asaado Yznaga, tho hero OF the original
series of divorces.
This does not cover the list Of divorced
folks In society by any q 1t merely
serves a. an example of the complications
which must ensue. particularly II the di-
v0roe habit continues to extend.
ia European countries divorced w0me ,
have little or no standing, particularly in
circles. But In other countries, d.
Vsroe amounts to little or nothing. Soci-
-AEy folks here seem to be drifting from the
gfoeUer toward the latter. Whether it IL
asekrogression or progression, Judged from
atte standpoint of civilization. Is problem.
JAPAN's EASY CUSTOM.
Japan is regarded as q most progressive
eoauntry, but divorce there is held very
yeheapiy, not by the intelligent upper classes
bat by the masses.
There are seven causes according to
'Canfuctus, for which . mar may divorce
Ais wife. They are disobedience. the fail.
ss1Ce t0 bear children, unchastity. Jealousy,
san tncurabla disease. dishonesty and 1
s1harp tongue. In other words he can gel
nj Of her whenevr he likes and by . very
sA0par process. ALI he has to do Is Il
write . letter declaring that everything II
~osor 6etween them and advising her Il
M1nrn to her parents. Such . letter. I'd
~11o2od to her father. or eldest brother II
$50 has Ne father, will answer the same
pnfpase. Then he must 60 to the regis
0ArS 0eace and report himself - di
''Uoeoo4 man.
/. THE WEE HANDICAPPED.
4 wa6e may get rid OF her husband II sh'
s1MEos - do %, for similar causes, but sh'
.uta lose her social position, II she ha
sanE, and ID mach moro likely to b re-
~nQaoted and make Z second marriage II shl
u 10 defendant Instead Of the plaiDti6 II
80 ea1o. This Is s0mowhat Of q paradox
~ 4 throws Z ~eearchlight upon the %
afaa oastens Of Japan, What Ii require,
aoose III from women b obedience Tina
6eAe highest q virtues, and no obedi6n
sUu0An Win ever seek ! divorce Tor an!