The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-06-20

]
had just slipped their yoke show thi
to be an appalling fact, and the caus
of their hurried action.
Though the sacred words of DIVINE
Writ are still used in the marriage
ritual yet half the world seems nov
to regard matrimony only as simpl
contract (very easily broken) and no
bond for lifetime that shall be sev
cred only by death.
Half century ago divorces wer,
rare and deemed something like a dis
grace, sort of immoral proceeding
Many good woman submitted pa
tiently and suffered much from man:
tyranny and brutality rather than ex
pose herself TO the shame and odiun
of appearing in a divorce court. To
day we can most of us count amons
our old friends or acquaintances nun
bers of persons who not only are di
vorced, hut have also married again
We have grown used to the fact, anC
l. it does not please our religion:
ideas of strict morality, yet it does
not shock us as it would have shocked
those before our time
But even the most liberal minded
in this lax age of progress must con
denim this wholesale destruction Of
the sanctity of marriage as shown by
this ever increasing number of di
vorces, often obtained under the
slightest possible pretense
From daily paper we quote the
following statistics on this subject:
| There are now 51,538 divorced pee
pie in the United States, of whom
32,205 are women and 1884 are men.
The reason for such an excess of
women is explained on the theory
that divorced men are more apt to re-
marry than divorced women; there
are very few cities in which the num-
Der of divorced men is greater than
or even equal to the number of wo-
men. Omaha is the most CONSPICUOUS,
for among its inhabitants are $50 men
and 236 women who have been sep
arated from their conjugal mates by
the courts
Quite a startling showing, telling
of many wrecked home. One of the
most serious consequences of divorce
is the bad example and effect it so
often has upon the children of these
unhappy people. 1t is impossible for
them to have the same affection and
respect for parents that have separat-
ed and become as strangers to each
other.
The following incident is an actual
fact, the persons mentioned are well
known, wealthy people living in San
Francisco. 1t was in the parlor of
one Of the fashionable private hotels
a few years ago, that the conversation
turned upon some sensational divorce
IN the papers, when a young lady
present remarked: Oh, sometimes
when l go to the theatre with my
mother and her new husband, Just
right opposite will sit my father and
his last wife, you know this is the
one since my mother divorced
him. Mamma says he is awfully bad. |
but he tells the same story about her. |
so l guess there is not much differ
ence between them. Anyway, he was
always very indulgent to me, and now
ne says he will give me anything !
want if l will go and live with them
so if [ am kept too strict here l will |
do So" This same young
ady soon after eloped with Say
-oung man of the town, from whom
'he soon got divorce, and has re-
Gently married again. OF course, it
vas all the natural outcome of a very
,adly mixed state of morality.
The bishops of the Anglican
Church have now taken very decid-
ID stand against marrying persons
Who are divorced, and one of their
minister's who recently officiated at
he marriage of a divorced New York
Millionaire is in danger of being un-
rocked for that offense.
This seems a little inconsistent
7hen we remember that it was Henry {
III who first constituted himself {
cad of the English church "a title I
iven ever since to the kings of Eng !
and) after his withdrawal from the {
ihurch of Rome because the Pope re-
used to sanction his divorce from {
-atherine, and allow him to marry {
ne beautiful but faithless Anne Boy {
IN. But we know that Henry soon l
red of her as he did of each of the !
our that came after, and this is gen Y
rally the case with those of even I
umble station in life. The first mar g
age tie broken, the new one formed f
arely bears as well the strain of do
lestic fret and worry and so they
re apt to multiply. c
Quick release by divorce from trou- a
les great and small may seem to {
AXE life easier for brief spell, but t
In never bring permanent peace and a
If in this age of pro-
'ess the divorce laws were stricter. v
D doubt more patience and charity Il
ould be practiced by those who now t
e so ready to throw off those respon- S
bilities they assumed when they V
owed to love and cherish each other p
It'll the end of life. S
A well known writer says ciyiliza- o
On gave us marriage, in respecting
hich we are above savages. Progress s.
giving us divorce, wholesale, cheap. n
a degradation beneath that p
those primitive people who make Is
promises and break none, who do 81
IT set right as fashion and wrong W
practice, ''the truth for the en- "
gn and the lie for the course" a.
-O- m
PPOTEcTAMT TLEnI nNIAnt ia