The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-03-17


! In New York there has recently
been a number of marriages in which
| the practical and progressive young
couples have married themselves
without the assistance of preacher or
/ priest, or bridesmaids, and ushers and
ring bearers, and palms, and the
Lohengrin wedding march, and the
other fuss and frills that custom has
made us associate with a wedding.
J In these up-to-date weddings the
bride and bridegroom have simply
signed a marriage contract, and had it
duly o. KID before the proper legal
Authority, and the deed was done.
They were tied together as tight and
fast as the state could make, the knot.
| This way of getting married will
never appeal to the girl who counts
on her wedding being the one grand
Splurge of her life. Neither will it
commend itself 20 the romantic, or
to those who believe that marriage is
a. religious sacrament, but to prosalc
and common-sense people, the mar
riage by contract will appear in the
light of a useful modern invention
nerves that is usually spent in getting
a girl married, and that leaves the
bride and her family wrecked when
the wedding is over.
|
however, there is another aspect OF
| the marriage contract that makes it a
highly desirable adjunct to any we'd
ding. That is that a contract visual
ICES to us the bargains we are MAX
ing. 1t does not deal in glittering gem
eralities 1t comes down to brass
lacks. and agrees to the specific
things that the party of the first part
undertakes to do and give to the party
| of the second part, and likewise what
4 ~ Lodi &C
himself or herself to do for the party
of the first part in consideration of
certain privileges or emoluments.
| Before marriage a man will promise
anything, and a woman will agree to
anything Edwin tells Angelina that
the dearest wish OF his heart is to
shield her from every wind that blows;
that his delight will be in toiling to
crafty her every whim, and that her
| lily white hands shall never do any
| brow.
| This listens good to Angelina, and
she marries, believing that all that will
be required of her will be to look pref
! ty, and watt a kiss to Edwin as he
starts off to work in the morning.
| And before marriage Angelina tells
| Edwin that all that she wants is just
to be a beautiful influence in his life,
and that her dream of bliss is adding
to his joy and soothing and comfort
After marriage both find out that
these beautiful sentiments were merely
campaign promises that neither eX-
| pected to keep. Edwin grumbles over
| the bills and expects Angelina'S lily
white hands to get busy with the pots
and pans, and Angelina weepS because
she can't have as much finery as her
millionaire friends do, and smells Ed
wins breath when he comes home, and
raises a row if he doesn't punch the
|
hour And this difference between
prenup+ial promise and ante-nuptial
| PERFORMANCE makes them both feel
! that marriage is a failure.
| All of which might be avoided if
young couple contemplating marriag e
would set forth plainly and specifically
in contract the rights of both parties
in the holy estate.
If, for instance, a man signed a con-
tract, agreeing to pay his wife so much
money every month on which to run
the house, and sc much for her per-
sonal expenses, he would expect to
pay it just as he would the salary of
any employee in his office.
If the woman demanded in her ante
nuptial bill of rights the privilege of
having her own religious opinions; of
belonging to whatever clubs she chose:
of having a two-weeks' vacation with
out a fight to get It; of having her
mother visit her once a year, of being
amusement one night a week, and of
being treated with much courtesy
and consideration as any other lady of
her husbands acquaintance, It would,
at least, call the mans attention to
some of the elementary duties of a
good husband, and it would not strike
him with quite such a shock of sur
prise when he found out that his wife
had an individual life of her own that
she was not willing to entirely sur
on
On his part, the man might file an
equal number of reasonable demands.
He might assert his rights to a latch
key, and to have one evening out a
week without recriminations and tears
on his return; he might bind the wife
to be n good and thrifty housekeeper,
he might claim the privilege of re-
serving one room in the house for him
self, where he could do as he liked,
and in which his wife should not en-
croach; he might demand the right to
entertain his own friends, and to have
his family visit him as often as his
wife had hers; he might put in a
clause guaranteeing him the privilege
of smoking wherever he pleased, and
the right to eat what he liked without
being told how bad it was for his
stomach.
1t is because young people do not
know what they are undertaking when
they tackle the job of matrimony that
they so often make such a mess of it,
If they did know, if they had studied
every provision of marriage contract,
and agreed to it, they would be aware
of the magnitude of their undertaking,
and that of itself would go long way
towards making it a success.
1t may be said that a marriage con-
tract is bound 10 be based on conf
dence and good faith, and that there
would be no way short of the divorce
court of enforcing its provisions That
is true, And only in rare cases would
a married couple go to law to enforce
their rights, but in cases of domestic
friction they might refer to their con
tract. and see what each one did
promise and covenant to do. Then
most of them would go and do it, for
not many people are poor enough
sports to WEIGH on their bargains.
Possibly marriage contract may be