Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-10-09
Gamma Phi Beta House IS Fine Structure
Belinda Tries To
Find Out About
81 "Obey" Proposition ln
Some Marriage Rituals

.4
Belinda Of The. Herald was anxious
to know il this little word obey"
is Regarded as having any Important
relation to the marriage ceremony.
Recently the word came into the
limelight, with the Recommendation
by the Protestant Episcopal body
that it be omitted trom the marriage
ritual of that. denomination.
So Belinda set out he other day.
and she asked three ministers, two
girl ii they believed a woman should
promise to obey her Spouse. The
man. who had bean married not 80
LONG. ago. couldn't remember, by Jove.
whether his bride promised to obey
him or not. so he proved conclusively
that the word, II 1t had been used
In the ceremony. had meant little to
him.
Not one of the three clergymen
uses the Word obey in exacting
! promises from the bridal couple. Not
that the word be used, though they
all agree that obedience Is implied in
the promises which are made by the
two people who are being married.
This obedience. however. they pointed
out, is for both the man and the
woman entering into the contract.
| and is not meant exclusively for the
orna
Prefer Word Comfort"
One of the ministers interviewed
representing. one branch Of the Lu-
theran body-aSks both the bride and
groom appearing before him to love,
honor. comfort and keep" each other.
There is no mention of the bride
obeying. He referred to the fact that
In q certain other branch Of the Lu-
theran body, the word ''obey" still
a a place in the marriage ritual.
but Its use Is not required, and many
pastors OF that branch supply the
word comfort instead.
The marriage ritual Of the Metho-
dist Episcopal church originally was
the same Us that stil used by the
Protestant Episcopal church, but
some small changes have been made,
4 including the omission Of the word
'.obey." This modification Of the
Original ritual has been adopted by
many denominations. 9H.} e
The Roman Catholic marriage ritual
asks Of both tho persons being mar
ried that they take each other Ito
have and hold. for better. for worse,
for richer, for poorer, in sickness and
in health. until death do them part
Again there il no reference to the
bride %.obeying.
wouldn't Obey Anyhow.
One local judge who was inter
viewed said he never used the WORD
when no was officiating 1t a marriage
ceremony. and 1t was his opinion that
il any one should be asked to obey
1t should be the groom. Having q
he believes. he said, that they are
generally willing to be reasonably
obedient without publicly promising It
And then, being Irish. he told the
truth, and said he thought that II
was useless to make them promise
to obey their husbands, because, they
didn't intend to anyway. The othe,
J Judge did not believe that the use Of
the word in the ceremony was in any
way important. ~.
And the young woman. just out o.
on the independence Of the female q
the species, thought it was a %ridiculou:
question, because no enlightened
woman of this day would expect t.
"obey' her husband, and the entire
y. matrimonial undertaking /. should b.
}, run on a f1fty-f1fty basis, with tn,
!, man doing a little extra obeying o,
his w account.
Personally. Belinda believes tina
ZIG IlOuplc AOOul tilS WOEu ODCy N1&S
have started back around the tim
that st. Paul was tactless enough tt
go on record with. that little state
ment Of Wives, be obedient to YOU
husbands" thereby winning the eter
nal d~ispleasure of womankind. Fo
that one little remark he is general.
regarded by most men as a right goot
sort, and they must naturally overlook
the rest Of the advice which was
Husbands, love your wives AMI b,
not bitter toward them" =.
And whether or not q woman obeys
It appears that she goes right on get
ting marsied. There is hat old Hind,
legend. to h effect that the first MA
created~wa finding his own compan.
a bit tiresome. SO out of a million
contradictory elements a woman wa
: created for him. She didn't suit him
not one whit, but he was lonely agai'
whenever she left him, so that even
tual!y he was moved to mourn. "Wo
is me>I can neither live with or with
out her"