IS MARRIAGE A FAILURE?

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2104, 12 June 1907, Page 4

IS MARRIAGE A FAILURE?

A MAN OF THE WORLD'S VIEAVS

THE DECEPTIONS OF COURT-

SHIPS.

“Obsorver,” who has evidently been bitten badly, writes: — The controversy on t-lio above subject that has been carried on throughthe medium of your paper, lias undoubtedly caused much interest, and I trust lias also been profitable to many of your readers. “Married, in your issue of Saturday, made a statement which sounds plausible enough, but which unfortunately proves the exception rather than the rule. The statement is as follows: “Unhappily, hasty marriages often bring unhappy results, but it is an easy matter to try a man’s character by His devotion,” Is it? Metliinks not. Being a keen observer of human nature, I have made a particular study of the matrimonial question, and have availed myself of the many opportunities that ha\ c fallen to iuj lot to take a peep behind the scenes, and I emphatically deny that a girl can prove a man’s character by his devotion.

I have watched tlie ardent lover carry out to the minutest detail all those little attentions which rejoice the heart of woman, but when the prize successfully angled for has been landed home, and the ecstatic joy or possession has somewhat abated, one by one those little attentions cease, Because a woman fails to complain, they blindly believe slio does not notice. They: allow other interests to absorb their attention until at length the wife becomes a mere machine to prepare the food and attend to home comforts.

“Married” also states that “A noble woman serves almost to tho entirety of making man what he should bo.” I heartily endorse what lio says. Given the opportunity, a good woman will ennoble the man she marries, but unfortunately, in many cases, these opportunities do not' occur after marriage. Through no fault of the woman, lack of appreciation, whicli is often shown by a man’s demeanour in the -home, saps tho high ideals and noble aspirations which were cherished in lior girlhood. She sinks to the level whore her husband has placed her, whereas with a little kindly encouragement 1 , she could riso to a position of equality which is undoubtedly “Woman’s Right.”