Middletown transcript., 1896-12-05
The Increase Of Diyorce.

y4iIsi The increase OF Divorce. tsi9 z
/ Twenty-Five or thirty years ago di-
vOrces were so rare as to be regarded
in the light of very uncommon except
lions'to the general rule. The divorce
law itself is not yet forty years old in
England, nor twenty years old in
France In Italy there is no civil d.
vorce whatever at the present day,
and the Catholic Church only grants
what are not properly divorces. but am
mutations Of marriages. in very, rare
cases, and with the greatest lreluctance.
Even in America every one cam re-
member how divorce was spoken Of
and thought of until very recently.
Within . few years It was deemed TO
be something very like q disgrace, and
certainly profoundly cynical and i'm
moral proceeding. To-day We can
most of us count in our own aequain-I
tance half a dozen persons who have
been divorced and been married again.
Whatever we may think of it in our
hearts, or whatever our religious con-
victions may be on the subject, it has
become so common that when we hear
Of fiagrant case of cruelty or unfaith-
fuiness, by which 4 man or woman
suffers, The question At once ri rises to
our lips. s.sWhy does she not divorce
her hpsbaud?' or, '..Why does be not
divorce his q,WifeH Weahave grown
used to-, the idea,7 and if it does not
please US, it certainly does not shock
u.s. II shocked our fathers, but we are
perfectly Indifferent All .r 8,sg r57
Of course there are many, perhaps q
majority who, though not Roman
Catholics would in their own lives
put up with almost anything rather
than 60 TO the divorce court for peace.
Some actually suffer much, and ask
for no. redress. But there are very,
many who have not suffered anything
atlall, excepting the lfayorite "incom-
patibility Of temper,s' and who have
taken advantage Of the loose laws in
certain States to try a second matri-
monial experiment. In what calls it.
self society there seems still to be pre-.
iudice against q third marriage, for di-i5
vorced4 persons, but at the present rate !
of advancein civilization this cannot
last7longs and the old Significance Of !
the word tsmarriage'' will be quite lost
before bur youngest grandchildren are
dead; ID other words, by the end Of the
next century, at the fnfthest. ,,..ia, H..
There are various forms of honorable
political dreaming and Of, dishonorable /
political misunderstanding nowadays, !
which we are accustomed to call col
lectively socialism, - Most Of these
rely for their hope Of popular success
upon their avowed intention Of divid-I
Ing property and, preventing it's subse-
qaent accumulation. Marriage is an
incentive Of such accumulation be- ]
cause IT perpetuates families, and there
fore keeps property together by inheri-
tance. Therefore all forms Of socialism
are at present in favor of divorce, as q
means of ultimately destroying mar
fiage altogether. A sproverb says
that whosoever desires the end, desires
Also the means. There is more truth
in the saying than morality in the point
ofview it! expresses = But there are
those who desire neither the means nor
tbe end TO- which they lead,a and a.
strngels IL coming the like OF which
has not BEEN seen since the beginning
of, the world, and Of which we who
are now alive shall not see the termira-
tion. II From 'sA Rose Of Yesterday, y
BY Marion Crawford, in the December
Century. Fa4 re- g %
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