The Washington times., 1923-05-07
TR0TH
EXPENSIVE To
BRIT0|u
Youth MILO Objected ! to.
Fiancse's Temper Must Pay
Heavy Costs.
By; LUTHER A. HUSTON
unconditional News Service.

LONDON, May. Tin England, at
any rate, it does not pay to break
off an engagement to marry because
the young woman in the case has
& short temper or does not get on
wen with her prospsctiye nnothsr-iii7
It cost Cecil. Henry Rhodes. .,
young gliShTna1, $3.50 to find this
out. The cost represented the
amount of damages, awarded Miss
Dorothy I, Betterfdge; s who sued
Rhodes for breach OF promise. The
case drew from Justice Rigby
Swift, the presiding Judge, some
piquant phrases with reference to
lovers and stlle law.
Rhodes defended the breaking Of
his engagement to Miss Betteridge
by charging that her bad temper
was sufficient cause for his act.
He also set UP the defense that
Miss Betteradge had been unable to
get along with his mother. Justice
Swift and. the jury swept these
arguments into the discard.
Nobody Perfect.
ut is not enough" said Justice
Swift, ''for Rhodes TO show that
Miss Betteridge did not come up to
the. expectations. in some respects.
Nobody who is engaged to be mar
ried ever does come up to expecta-
tons. Love is pfoverbia1ly blind.
Everybody on the other side OF
thirty. starts with the idea that his
lady is perfect and without flaw
and that no woman, since Eve at
rate has, ever been created
anything like her.. No doubt mem
bers Of the jury know what ii is to
have. courted an angel and, found
out afterward that she was a mere
human woman like the rest.
Everybody knows that other mems
wives are sometimes fiends for
temper. rA
Many Have. Temper.
THE fact that a. woman has a
temper does not render her. unfit
for n1atrifnony or half the popula-
ton of the world never. would have
been born. Half the wives in the
world are women who can display
a good deal of temper at times"
. z Counsel for Rhodes upheld the
right of a man to: break an engage.
ment. Judge Swift held that an en-.
gagement was a contract, the same
as any commercial agreement, and
must be SO regarded by the law.
"Supposing;" Justice Swift went
on, that man says. :. +. like a
woman OF mild, ,-docile character
who win acknowledge me, as lord
and master and bow down to my
every wish, and / am engaged to q
woman who has mind. of her own
and wishes thersef to be lord and
master and that l should bow down
to her wishes Why should the
defendant say, She has such q
temper = will not marry her,
though she is. fit to marry 999 men
out of thousand'2 =, -t4es )
Not Unfit to Wed.
Apparently Mr.. Rhodes said he
could not marry for tile present be.
cause his; mother had $50 Of his.
Was Miss Betteridge to- smile an
gelically and say. 1T is all right,
dear, am ready, to put off the
wedding for as long as your mother
wishes to Keep the $50
Miss !. Betteridgef did not say
that. When she said something
else he broke off the engagement,
/ shall ask the jury whether they
are satisfied that the plaintiff, by
reason OF her bad. temper, was un.
fit for matrimony generality"
The Jury did not find that Miss
Bettefidge had such a temper that
she could not be a good wife, and
it's finding, together with the OBJ.
servations of Justice Swift, has
added another. interesting chapter
to, English Jurisprudence. :