The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-12-19


Of the states divorce is easily obtained
On the ground of incompabibility or on
almost any pretext that enables a dis"
husband and wife to sever the
bond that has hitherto united them.
Infidelity. intemperance and deser-
ton are three of the most cogent rea
sons presented in the divorce courts
and In majority of the states; ii
the complaint is proven on any Of
these grounds, the decree of separa-
ton, either limited or absolute, is
granted without much demur. In one
or two Of the older and more conser-
vative states, notably in the south and
on the Atlantic seaboard below the
Mason and Dixon line, unfaithfulness
to marital vows is the only cause COM
monty offered by uncomfortably mated
people without any hope of gaining
their end. Nonsupport of a wife by
husband is a ground for divorce &C.
cepted by the courts in large number
of states, and with much reason.
Yet when all is said there remains
this stigma that divorce rests on too
flimsy a basis, that there is no unifor-
nifty in our laws in this department
SO that people are divorced and re-
married with undue haste, while it is
quite possible that man and woman
who live in lawful wedlock in on.
state may be regarded as unmarried
in another and If they live together
do so under the ban af open immoral
ity.
To assert that people never make
mistakes in the closest of human re-
lations and that divorce should never
be granted except on the one ground
of infldelity, is to affirm an opinion
that in some cases would inflict use
less and intolerable suffering, and do
no good to any of the parties con-
cerned. But to permit divorce to be
easy, to let the state consent to a
change of partners in marriage as
children change places in the old game
of stage coach and to remove wholly
from divorced persons reproach
when they remarry as they often do,
in precipitation and by evident pre-
arrangement, is to strike blow at the
foundation stone of society, the fam
lily.
Everything stable in civilized life
depends on the integrity of the family.
The family is the greatest of human
institutions. 1t preceded the state and
the church. When the family is no
longer regarded as sacred, when its
responsibilities are trampled upon and
husband and wife in mad selfishness
forget the claims upon them of their
offspring, there is the greatest dan
ger that the nation will follow the fate
of effete and corrupt nations in the
past.
The real sufferers in easy divorce
are the children. It is pitiful to see,
as one often does, a father and mother
at variance contending over the child
rem who should be their dearest bond
Of union. The little ones clinging to
father and mother in the sweet SIM
plicity of childish affection daily try
ing to understand the discords that
ruin their home. The love of their
little loyal hearts is given alike to
father and mother. If by the adjudi-
cation Of court they are torn from
the arms of one and placed in the
care of another, they begin manned
and mutilated life.
They are ashamed when among
their little mates because there is
something that sets them apart, some-
thing queer and odd that they cannot
explain.
Children have strange capacity
for suffering when they are forced out
of the sweet and sae seclusion of a
sheltered home, and are too early
thrust under the limelight of publicity.
They are often reticent and hide theft
real thought and conjectures from
those around them, but when they live
in an atmosphere teeming with sus-
picion and distrust, when servants
gossip mysteriously within their hear
Ing, and people about them talk in
hushed whispers, they grow too early
familiar with the language of the
scandal. The faint of evil stains the
purity of their souls. It even seems
at times as If curse descended from
mother to daughter and father to son,
when divorce on foolish and capricious
grounds is granted in family. There
are instances on record and to be seen
In the smart society of America at
this period, in which the mother, tn.
daughter and the granddaughter of
single line have successfully discover
ed that permanence in marriage was
for them impossible, and have made
a wreck of their homes in conse-
quence.
No matter on whom the blame may
rest, those who really bear the bur-
den and the shame, if shame there
may be, are the sohs and daughters.
Not merely while they are in the nur-
sery and the schoolroom, but later,
when the youth is approaching man.
hood and the girl in her beauty and
sweetness begins her life in society,
do the shadows meet around them.
No sensitive girl can be entirely con-
tented and satisfied if her father and
mother are living apart, If she must
visit one by permission or by stealth,
or If she have the strange anomaly
Of stepfather or stepmother who has
taken the place of living parent.
Where marriage is looked upon as
and the church refuses
It's sanction to the marriage of those
who are divorced there is considera-
ton for the welfare of the children
unknown when marriage is regarded
merely as a civil contract that may