Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-06-17
The Divorce Question

| AUQ sure ~ 10 d duCoIIOAA' " IAClt
| family is broken up and the man
| goes his way, and the wife goes her
way, it is all bad enough, with only
shattered hopes and broken promises
to think about, but when there are
children and the children may all &C
one way, or they may be divided and
go two ways, the tragedy is ap-
palling. This is lifetime break, and
it is a miracle when anybody gets
any particular good out Of the whole
| business.
South Carolina, does not consider
divorces at all, and the advocates of
South Carolina law sometimes brag
| about it, but the fact remains, that
a home which is in stormy tumult
all the time has but little that is
good to boast of, either in common
sense or justice. ......
| They tell us that divorces are con-
! tinually on the increase. We hear it
said that such and such a judge
/ has heard dozens of divorce cases
in one day, and it would look like it
| is remarkably easy to break the
bonds of matrimony when the di-
vorce mill starts to grind and the
judge is in the humor for dispatch
and getting done with it.
But, oh! what does it stand for in
the destruction Of domestic happi-
| ness? What does it mean to a decent
woman when her man slips off and
leaves her to provide for and rear
gang of little children by her own
enorts, and what is there for a de-
cent man when his wife drops him
The craze for marrying during the
worlds war was alarming, and the
solution of all the World war di.
Vorces is more than an endless tam
gle. With the pension business and
probably the bonus business, the con-
fusion will be worse confounded.
The crime of bigamy is continu-
ously exploited in even our Georgia
courtnouses. We rarely ever heard
OF a blgamist in my early raising.
NOW they are plentiful as hogs in
a pasture. Down in Atlanta. since
I have been on a sick bed. within
three weeks, a case in court, had
three women to appear as wives for
one man. Over in England one old
Turk Of a husband could count elev.
en-, in the witness chair, declaimine
against him. Some rule or method
or drastic law must be set in force
to care for this frequent divorce
eVll and the crime of bigamy.
rms republic is absolutely based
on the decent homes and acknoWl-
edged marriage ties Of the Ameri.
can men and women. The home is
the basic stone of domestic happi.
ness, and the responsibilities of hus-
oand and wife tC each other and to
their children is the one thing that
holds our civilization intact.
grant you, a wife and mother
can be maltreated until forbearance
ceases to be a virtue, and perforce
she must have relief from a human
brute, if the facts are sustained by
proper investigation, but there is
trouble in spite of it all, and the
children arr the final losers.
1t Is apparent that couples get
married too easily-there should be
sufIlcient notice given of intended
marriage to make parents and
irlends investigate into the previous
lives and character of strangers in
their midst when they are matri-
monially inspired. There should be
some security provided also that
men who marry shall take decent
| care of the family, in prospect, But
all the SAM this divorce question is
fearfully perplexing.
A Sweet Letter
Away up in the state Of Kentucky
there lives a dear old lady who has
not walked step in four long years,
and OF course, ''shut-in," and she
has written me a four-page letter,
that is SO bright and cheerful that I
feel as If the country home readers
should get acquainted with her also.
You will understand we have never
seen each other, and only are &C.
quainted through the Tri-Weekly
Journals columns. She inquiries
why the Tri-Weekly does not publish
my picture as she wants to see the
old veteran of eighty-seven years
old. She has sent me also this mes
sage, Il do hope and pray you may
be spared a long time and with good
health. 1 was a very busy woman
during my long life, but now I have
to sit on the side of my cot all the
time, and cannot walk at all.
But 1 am so thankful and feel SO
| cheerful to be as well off as 1 am,
because there is nothing so bad with
US, that it could not be worse. 1 am
congratulating you on your long life
of eighty-seVen years and trust you
may reach the century mark and
may God bless you and Heaven re.