The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-12-21

Everywhere the divorce mill keeps
grinding. The solemn spectacle, OF
homes wrecked and hearts broken by
the thousands upon thousands every
year raises the most startling ques-
lions about the relations of the sexes.
But this is not a general discussion OF
abstract principles nor criticism Of
existing conditions. 1t is an appeal to
individual men and women who have
made the terrible discovery that the
happiness Of which they dreamed
thru marriage has been blasted by the
incompatibility of their temperaments.
In all human life there is no greater
tragedy. The slow capitalization of
this suspicion into certainty is like
losing ones life blood drop by drop.
question is: What shall we do-en-
dure the bitter disappointment and the
ceaseless sorrow with meek resigna-
ton or disrupt the hateful bond?
Undoubtedly che former answer Is
the law of life. But with what a wild
protest, It is answered by these
been defrauded of life's greatest hap
piness," they cry. I'VE have a right
to be happy and are not. BY what
principle Of justice can we be required
to pass our lives without 1t when 1t Is
Just within our reach?" This is an
SACG6uluSlS UlLICl SlSs ~ 40 W. oAAS
from bleeding hearts. It raises a
question that must be answered In
accordance with the eternal rightness
in the nature of things.
In the first place, such sufferers are
bound to remember that to some
degree (whose limits may not be ac-
curately defined) their individual hap
piness must be subordinated to the
gooS of the state. This is a principle
against which the soul struggles In
vain. The same mysterious obligation
that inciteS men to suffer wounds and
death for the good of their country on
the battlefield ought to incite them to
suffer marital unhappiness If need be.
It is easy to resent and repudiate this
duty, but it is impossible to deny 1t.
The frightful increase Of divorces is a
national peril. The very existence of
righteousness in the state is threat
ened by it. Not a citizen 1s exempt
from the responsibility this involves.
The tories Of the revolution and the
eopperheads of the rebellion were not
a. whit more false to their country than
are the people who for trivial and con-
temptible reasons threaten the sta
bility of our government by breaking
its most solemn contract and spreading
the fatal pestilence Of easy divorces.
In the second place, the people who
are contemplating divorce ought to
realize what pusillanimity and selfish
ness prompt the vast majority Of these
unhOly descriptions of marriage. II
was only a few days ago that a man
petitioned for divorce because his
wife was getting old and he wanted g
younger one. And this is scarcely
more contemplate than the motives
that secretly prompt the majority Of
the people who break this sacred tie
In some form or other it is almost al
ways selflove. People whine and say
1--WE are not happy!' Well, in the
name Of God, be happy! You have as
good a chance as the vast majority
Nine out Of ten Of the couples tina
have at last achieved contentmen
have won it against exactly the same
sort Of odds which you are encounter.
ing. "A right to be happy" One get:
tired of this childish plant. Wha
most people want Of life is happines.
without effort. What most people
seek in marriage is the alteration an(
slavery of the person whom the.
marry. Men marry women to have
them purr and caress and coddle them
Women marry men to have them dres
and pet and hatter them. Unframed
to high moral obligations, insensibl,
to sublime ideals, incapable Of self
control, they enter into the ''holy'
estate Of matrimony absolutely ant
solely for their own pleasure. NJ
wonder they make shipwreck of it
This is not true Of all people who fine
married life uncomfortable, but it mos
unquestionably is true oil the. vas