The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-12-11
WILL TELL ABOUT
$4,000 DIVORCES
Man Who Witnessed DEGREES
Thirty-Five Years Will Pub
lish Memoirs.

After having been present at the
granting Of 10000 DEGREES nisi, f. h,
Fem, the oldest frcquenter of the dl'
vorce court and one of the most I'M
| portant. though least obstruslve, Jour
nalists in London, is about to publish
| u book which he has written on the
subject OF his experiences.
1t will deal with thirty-tiye yenrs
! long intimate acquaintance with the sad
| happenings that have taken place dur
| iug that period before five presidents,
| 1t will be based on 10000 ill-fated
| unions.
One might naturally expect that q
man who had gone through all this and
had, moreover. heen engaged on the task
of summing it mp in book form would be
heavily weighed down himself with sor-
| row, but grief is the very last thing
| that one associates with Mr.. Fem. He
has not one gray hair to show for all
his experience Of the gray side of life,
81 have listened to all of thcm,' he
| said. "and ] have reported large pro
portion Of them, but the effect Of IT
has poured of me like water of duck S
| back.
" Directly one leaves the court one
shakes il all off. One forgets that there
| is such a thing as All unhappy mar
riage or an unfaithful spouse
But has not he was asked, 'this
| constant association with the exposure
| of human foibles tended TO make you
cynical, to inspire you with dlstrust
| of human nature''
"Lord IIannen, who presided over the
court for twenty years, was the reply
''once remarked that he had not lost
| faith in womanhood. That phrase eX'
presses my own feelings.
Mr. EcOO lpXi1l and merry l9u0h
| add confederation to his words.
The forthcoming book will deal with
the history of tho divorce court from
its inception in 1857
Mr.. Fem took his seat in 1874. hav.
ing been appointed divorce reporter
rs he points out with n chuc kle-,during z
his honeymoon.
stories, of which he has an epdlcss
store, and which will be made public for
the first time
He is almost the only man left in
the divorce court who remembers the
witticisms of Sir Charles Butt and the
brilliant repartees of "Mr. Hawkins
and Sir Charles Russell.
When he became the recognized leader
OF the divorce court journalists-and
he has held that position for n long
time-Mr. Fem had many peeps behind
VIII add piquancy to what his book will
have to say.
More than one chapter is to be de-
voted to the woman litigant. The man
ncr in which she has dcported herself
before hve successive presidents has
come under the authors notice.
II think she is little fondcr nova
days than ever Of showing herself off
when she comes TO court, - he remarked
when asked to criticise her modern com.
pertinent as compared with her attitude
i'll the '70s.
There are more people to show her
self off to- he added, "Tho popular
lty of the divorce court as n place of
diversion has always been increasing
although 1T was Lord Hannen. the first
president, who, was the originator Of
the phrase This court is not the.
ater' -
=, To his colleagues in the court Mr..
Fem Is known as "Uncle - Among
his minor distinctions arc that he plavs
chess with great skill and nrbanity and
is member of the Press Fund council