DIVORCE IN AMERICA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2719, 14 December 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

DIVORCE IN AMERICA.

Tim frivolous character of tho complaints in many cases of divorca reeantly granted and now on the docket loads thoughtful people to ask, " What are we coming' to We do not know that the wives in a given number of cases are more blameable than tho husbands, but it is the wives who suffer the moat from such s-uudered relations. As a rule, they suffer more in their affections and in their reputations than the stronger sex. Whila there is something to be said in favour of a law of divorce which separates mismated couples, there is no condemnation too severe for men or women who enter the marriage state with the idea in their minds that if they do not like it they will take advantage of the law that allows them to escape. Yet there is no doubt but that thoughtless young men and giddy girls often do approach the altar with that thought in their minds. In cases whei» the husband is very young the idea is apt to grow in strength as the years pass. He finds himself while yet on the sunny sida of thirty with a wife who has possibly lost some of her girlish beauty, and children whoso necessities absorb the greater part of his earnings. He compares the free and independent life of some of his bachelor associates, and imagination magnifies the pleasures he might participate in if he was unmarried. Some day the wife, who is ill-prepared to fight the battle of life alone, is stunned by the servine of an application for divorce. Cases of this kind, we regret to say, are not uncommon. Almost everyone can recall one or more in his own circle of acquaintances. Of course, if the real reason were preferred in tho application less harm would be done ; but the legal necessity of setting forth reasons often, suggests a resort to falsehood. Trifles in the way of disagreements will be magnified, and baseless suspicions urged as matter of facts. The remedy for them, as for most other evils, lies with the people themselves. The law is not so much at fault as the facility with which it is evaded. The Church and society are too lenient in matters of this kind. It may be questioned if a man who divorces a wife for no other reason than that he prefers to live single, is injured in his business or social relations by his act. If he has bejn a Church member he still remains one. And yet he has committed the most cowardly crime a man can commit. A woman thus divorced, unless sho has powerful friends, has no future, and her children are thrown upon the world without the character and instincts of right which are inculcated in well-regu-lated homes.