This Marriage Business

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 7, 25 August 1933, Page 48

This Marriage Business

THE interesting thing about marriage is its permanence and the fact that it is, and is meant to be, an enduring thing.... Except for this it is no more interesting than any halfbaked love affair or casual encounter. Modern romantic love marriage is the most daring experiment. yet tried by human beings. I am not sure that the Anglo-Saxon people who are trying it are civilised enough to make & success of it, * 2 e Married life is not a. pienic, and it should not be allowed to resemble a Picnic, for even a very exquisitely appointed picnic is informal, and one of the first necessities of married life is a regard for formality. I will even uses a big word here and say ceremony. % e * As a preparation for normal everyday married life, the honeymoon has no value at- all, simply because, at its best, when it is a tremendous success, it is no more normal than a drinking bout or any other extravagant form of self-indulgence. _ % * oe If you must haye a honeymoon, make it a short one, take it in some friendly place you know well, and put it off if you can. Don’t take that special holiday till you've been married a while. : * Men will have to get nid somehow of that old feeling of possession, and even of their old ideas of honour. There’s no sense in a man’s feeling uncomfortable and humiliated if his wife contributes to the family budget. There is no real reason why a man should find it intolerable to be supported ‘by his wife. If he’s a slacker, yes. If he sits at home for choice and lets his wife go out to work, yes. But if, as happens nowadays, he can’t find a job and she can, why can’t they both be glad that one of them is lucky? In a case of necessity any other feeling is nonsensical and all resentment or friction a stupid waste of energy. x. . [From "The mechnique of Marriage," by Mary Borden (Heinmann, ‘ London.) J