The herald., 1896-12-09
IR[Y USUALLY R[MARRY
The Curious Features of
the Divorce Court
EXPERIENCE FAILS TO TEACH
The Perpetual Old Maids Are
LudicrousIy Small
MYSTERIES OF THE LICENSE
..cupid" Kutz, Who Acts as High Priest
Of hymen,
Asd Guides the Bashful Bridegroom to
His Fate
when a License is Suppressed in Order
MYSTERIES OF THE LICENSE
"Cupid' Kutz, Who Acts as High Priest
Of hymen,
Asd Guides the Bashful Bridegroom to
His Fate
When a License is Suppressed In Order
to Serve a Public Good-How the
Hero of Second Marriage
Sometimes Acts.
What becomes of divorced women?

What becomes of divorced women?
A vast field of unexplored territory is
opened up by the question. Mules are
supposed to seek some secluded spot
where no eye can behold them, and
where death may come to them in peace.
In like manner divorced women are be-
Eeved to withdraw to some mysterious
limbo in which the rest Of their lives
is passed unobserved of the multitude.
The belief has no warrant. in fact, and
while it is difficult to tabulate in statls-
tical form the different classes of women
who have found marriage failure, ar
approximate attempt may be made in
this direction, so far as it applies to Los
Angeles They may be divided into the
following four classes:
Remarked within a year, rs per cent.
Waiting for an offer. 10 per cent.
Fallen into evil ways, 10 per cent.
Devoted, to single blessedness, per
cent
These figures have been compiled from
various sources The divorce records
and TIE marriage register, the state
ments of the judges, justices of the
throw light upon the question, and PEI
sonal inquiry among those who have
been divorced has revealed much that is
OF interest.
The fourth class-the class of per-
petual old maids-seems ludicrously
small 1t comprises, however, for the
most part, those poor women, aged, IN
firm, who, after having endured the
brutality of their husbands as long as
health and strength would permit, are
content to pass the remainder of their
ed to tempt fortune again. Their
number, too, is increased by
those philosophical women who.
since their matrimonial shipwreck,
have established themselves in some
business and laugh when marriage is
suggested to them.
What. II" they exclaim. Il, who
know the perfidy of men, and what mar
riage is?''
Occasionally there retires into the Sc
clusion of a convent or sisterhood some
woman who has had her hour of no.
toriety in the divorce court. She goes
with her wrong or with her sin, and life s
gates are closed behind her.
And yet withal, these form only abou:
five per cent of the whole. The philo-
sophie women may some day have her
philosophy shaken. A fair penitent may
come forth from the convent or the sis
terhopd purged of her offense. A hus-
band may be waiting for them both.
Those women forming the third class
may be quickly dismissed. 1t is COM
posed almost wholly of those against
whom the decree of divorce has been
pronounced Discarded by their hus-
hands. abandoned by their sweethearts,
they descend in the. social scale AMI
live henceforward in the half world.
The "eligibles"-the second class-in-
oludes those who held no matrimonial
intentions when they sought "a divorce.
Their wrongs drove them to take action,
but, when free. they realize that their
experience was not altogether ard in
toto unpleasant. They look about
them in the hope of renewing it minus
the unpleasant features
The great category of divorced women.
however. is the first class, viz. those
remarked within year from the date
OF divorce. Of the rs per cent thus mar
ried from 80 to 40 per cent re-enter we'd
lock within month. The CELEBRITY of
these second marriages is astonishing.
The process of marriage is simple.
Every facility is accorded the parties in
the county clerks office. They stand up
before Mr.. San Kutz, the Cupid of the
marriage license Office. He is man of
kindly heart varied experience and has
mass of data from which he intends
writing work on the romantic side of
marriage licenses-to be, indeed,
standard authority on the subject. He
puts the regular questions to the parties,
asking them under oath whether thew
are of marriagable age, are unmarried,
and may lawfully contract to be Joined
in Wedlock.
In giving the name of bride who has
been divorced the bridegroom not unfre-
II ref To
miss"
Has she been married before?" chirps
Cupid" Kutz. as he peers inquiringly
over his spectaces.
Yes" mutters the bridegroom.
.Then how" demands Mr. Kutz. as a
frown shadows his face, can she be
miss?'
Sometime the decree is produced and
then all is plain sailing. The law does
not compel him to demand the decree,
but when it is produced it is satisfac-
tion to his literary conscience.
And now," he says to the parties.
take the elevator the fourth floor and
you will find a justice of the peace all
ready At this point Justice Young is
quickly Informed of what Is required of
him. and leading the way into his snug
gerry he pronounces the customary for
mula. signs a certificate, pockets So and
politely bows the parties out.
In some cities rivalry exists between
the divorce courts and the county clerks
office, but not SO in this county. If the
former has every facility for dissolving
marriage why should not the latter have
as rapid machinery for knotting them
again?
1t is quite common occurrence for
one of the parties to a divorce suit-gen-
orally the woman-to be married again
before the ink on her decree is well dried.
There are those. of course. who object
to this state Of things, but on the con-
trary deplore them. If divorced people
won't say that they have been divorced,
neither Cupid" Kutz nor any one else
has powe to compel them,
1t is an everyday matter for the Bene-
dict about to be to ask that the license
be suppressed and the discretionary
power vested in the county clerk is very
seldom exercised. When it would clear
ly be impolitic to publish license, then
Its suppression might serve happy pur-
pose. For instance, IL two people have
been living as man and wife for years
and at last determine to go through the
legal ceremony. II u not part Of the law