The Washington herald., 1918-07-05

The other day q divorce was granted
to the middle aged wife Of a man who
has made a large fortune In the last
few years.
In her testimony the wife said:
Judge. I love my husband. and he is
q good man in spite OF the way he has
treated me. It's money that has ruin
ed him. Ours was just a poor boy and
girl marriage. I used to get up at I
o'clock in the morning to get him a
good hot breakfast before he started
off to work, and 1 stayed UP at night
washing his shirt and pressing his
clothes SO he would look neat and
clean. He loved me then. and we were
as happy together as we could be.
But he made money and the people
who never noticed him when he was
poor began to fiatter him. and hang
about him. and then he got rich, and
pretty young girls with painted faces
made eyes at him. and they took him
away from me
It's money that's broken up our
home and ruined my husband. and
pray to God every night that he
will lose it. for then he'll come back
to me-"
Perhaps this story is not as un-
common as we think. Perhaps the
fortune that all of us are striving
for is oftener a boomerang than we
know, and brings misery as fire.
quently as II does happiness. Per-
haps more psople are ruined by
prosperity than by misfortune, for
the real test of character Is not in
meeting poverty bravely, but in
bearing riches with equanimity.
Many a man is saved from being
q drunkard by lacking the price of
q drink, and there IL no such con-
servator of the domestic virtues as
for a man having to work so hard
all day he is too tired to leave his
own fireside at night. Poverty is a
great moralist, and our purse, as
often as our principles. decides our
course Of action.
The question thus suggested.
however OF whether poverty or
riches makes for connubial happi-
ness Is an interesting one. Accord
ing to the old adage. when poverty
comes in at the door, love flies out
the window; but there are many
cases where when riches came down
the chimney love sneaked out the.
back stairs, and so the problem Is
left unanswered.
Undoubtedly bitter. biting poverty
ID hard test for love to stand. In
its essence even love must be ma
terial. When you are hungry you are
more stomach than heart. When you
are cold you think more of the tenn
perature Of your body than you do Of
the temperature of your affections.
When you are hcrassed by bills and
bounded by collectors. money and not
sentiment, fills your waking thoughts
and nightly dreams. Love has to be
comfortable, so to speak. before it
can work.
-But. on the other hand. It can be
smothered to death by too much
luxury, and our common observations,
az 9well as the records of the d.
Vofce courts, go to show that love
and married happiness are among the
luxuries that no millionaire has
money enough to buy. Occasionally
they are his by chance. but nobody
In search Of the ideal Darby and
Joan would hunt for them in the
palaces OF the wealthy.
There are many reasons why the
possession of great wealth should
tend to separate people who are mar
ried, instead OF drawing them to-
gether. The greatest. in this coun-
try. II because of the fact that the
American man who achieves a for
tune spends the first part of his life
In making II and the balance IN TAX
ing care OF It. He lives In q world
apart from his wife. whose interests
she does not share, and whose Ian
guage she does not speak. He gets
up early. and STAYS out late, and
when he IL at home he. IL generally
too nervous and tired to talk. The
richer q man becomes, the higher
this barrier grows, until the wife
of the multimillionaire hnds that
she has no husband--nothing but
money-making machine.
That money brings temptations to
the rich man that the poor man
never knows. goes without saying.
In the first place. II he inhefits his
money, It 10 harder for the camel to
20 through the eye Of the needle
than for him to escape being mar
ried for his possessions. Then. mar
ried or single, women emile upon
him who can refard their blandish-
ments with rich gifts and 50 1t is
that the man who, had he been poor
would have been permitted to walk
the straight and narrow path OF
peace. linda himself the victim of
adyenturesses, simply on account of
his wealth.
statistics show that the ratio OF
divorce Il much greater In rich and
fashionable society than among the
poor. ThiS does not necessarily inn
ply, al ma Ssesm 10 10 aunnoss. am