Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-09-12
Won1an,s Life and Loue
Is Marriage a Failure?
BY AlNIFBED HARPER COOLEY

sort of open competition which exists
today, deny II as you will, has rather
salutary effect on most married folks.
in causing them TO spruce up and Keep
themselves fit, so as to distance all com.
pctitors
A larger and larger number Of women
refuse TO play the part of Patient Gri.
sclda. who suffered and suffered, and
loved and waited, and was humble. un.
Ill in the final old age her man, weariSd
of cOnquests and ready to die peacefully
at his own hearth. returned to crown
her martyrdom by bestowing his rheu-
matte and scnilc society on his spouse.
Women will not stand for marriage
as il used to be-nor indeed Will men.
In a time when women were sold by
their father. and refused admittancc TO
his home. IL they returned pleading,
they had no choice but to be wives. They
had no way to earn their living and
they were tied hand and foot by many
babies. II they tried to flee from their
bonds. the law brutally gave their chill
drcn to the father, even when II was
clearly proved that he was the guilty
party" What mother could endure to
have her heartstrings torn by giving up
her little ones? The alternative was
very terrible; she was forced to return
to the man whom she regarded as n
beast. and live with him all the rest
Of her life. bearing him other children.
One case may serve as n sample: A
woman found her hlXband to be ty-
rant who was obnoxious TO her. Out
wardly. he was not criminal, but the
conventional good providcr. After
a year she returned to her parents. beg
ging them to let her come into her
home. il only as n servant. OF course
they were shocked and bpratcd her for
being so bad wife. and compelled her
70 90 back to the man she loathed. BY
him she bore ten children. Think of the
conflicting passion within those Off
springs. born Of hate. Yet they were
supposed TO be blessed, in that they
we're conceived IN holy wedlock.'
The Puritans Of this age decry d.
vorce and cite the large numbers
granted in America as proof of decadent
morals. The statistics have little to
do with morals, for unhappiness and
unfaithfulness existed wholesale in the
past. but the manifestation was not
made In the courts. Who shall say
there is one more wretched pair today
than in any century OF the past ages,
merely because laws have become so
other? Are there more cancers than In
the past ages just because surgery has
been perfected and the cancers are cut
out. and the fact made public: No.
the original disease that led to the can
Ger j. no different in ono century from
urother-thiS age is merely fortunate in
having skilled surgeons to remove the
horror. In most cases it is beneficial
all around. and the patient lives TO be
more normal and happy. So in the
body polite. If suffering. sin crime.
or even merely mstits exist in ConjugaI
unions. divorce has not created them.
but merely performed a surgical opera
ton, with the chances good for recov-
cry and a normal life. To refuse sur
gical mid. and compel prolonged suffer
ing is brutal and ignorant. for it can
work only harm.
Divorce. therefore. is moral. II we
admit that derency is dependent upon
living with n man or a woman only so
long as sweetness and love exist.
Marriage itself is being attacked from
all sides. Yet il is founded on unver-
sal desire. No one objects to the form
ing Of bonds that will insure a stable
home for offspring. but many object to
the permu nency of il. Cynics who at
tack matrimony do not contend that
there is anything amiss with the horry-
moon and the bliss Of carly harmony It
is the necessity of remaining welded
when dissensions have come. creating
disIlluslonments and bitter pain. that
draws forth Onslaughts of satire.
How about this? Is marriage itself
at fault. or merely the tightncSS of the
bond?
We must continue this fascinating
universal subject next time.