Show r 1 I Yo- Yo 1 At 1 I t ito i to t become c t 11 n cJ J w SOMERSET SOMERSETiN iN X 7 n Yr AN MAUGHAM V h Divorce to Increase d 1 T IS only a ar question of time says W r Somerset the distinguished ENGLISH j English write when and will willbe r man 1 v woman m J 1 t be a q ual before the law i n matter s of all all- L IL y d s I mony etc will become purely a civil C contract which each person w ill easily b tit a to terminate r. r If an y one thinks we have too man t I divorces today he can be prepared to see the Y 0 I R d 1 J number doubling as the years go on z ti A III J. J e r ii I In the future we will see courses i matrimony in our schools for is a marriage k r 5 I S J profession and people must learn all they i ry r II I l ca n about it 3 t f fr J 44 Also in the future perhaps we will Ii consider it ridiculous for an one ern r Alimony Y k fr S ti F a a of 25 to mash f S When the i wed they do not F Laws Were ere 1 j l ii know their awn mind s As a result th e esex fry r rS sex instinct is quickly exhausted an d s Framed to 0 Protect I the Y find the Y nave nothing cornY corn corn- a s x q fkR A men to hold them together Dependent Women A child is not even s sufficient bond 1 01 o a Generation Ago 4 t but Modern Self Self- e u Supporting Women 9 3 k r Continue nu t tare to Collect a Large are Portion or ion o of Their Estranged sir an e 1 rJ 1 Spouses Spouses' She Pay a e Shouts ou s Equality era i t r but Wants A Her Old Privileges y k N. N By LIllIan G. G Genn enn f J i if p o MANY problems and complexities face traditional marriage today A 1 that one may well wonder what the future will hold in store for that ancient and venerable institution Will Vill it gradually pass out Or will it be able to withstand the assaults that are being made with increasing vigor When one views on all sides the easy floundering of the good ship Matrimony one naturally begins to speculate as to prospects prospects pros pros- it has of making port at t all that is with the same on board Certainly it would be interesting to know what so acute a student of human psychology as W. W Somerset Maugham who is considered one one of the foremost literary artists of our time would have to say on the subject The writer was here on one of his frequent frequent fre- fre quent visits to America Although he makes his home bome In England in reality he lives ves everywhere There is hardly a country in which he be has bas not lived and absorbed Its people and customs He is isa a man of about medium height beight broadS broad broad- shouldered with a handsome face ace deeply S tanned from his many travels throughout i the world He presents the distinguished that one somehow some some- appearance how hov expects of 01 him bim He has bas a deep rich the usual English Inflections Inflections In- In voice tree free from and he speaks with an occasional occasional occa- occa stammer BOPPING comfortably into a deep DROPPING lounge chair nearby he lighted his bis and thoughtfully discussed the question question ques- ques pipe which of marriage tion as to the future the interviewer put to him The subject ts s a profound one one he began 1 imagine that many many books and we could be written on the subject woUld still arrive at no definite sion For marriage is fluid It is changing ail alJ the time That is why it Is difficult foretell what its future will be to What has caused a good deal ot of the of at changed position chaos today is the turn has altered her woman which in marriage relationship As Asher status in the Independence as she won her economic soon could no longer dictate te to and man y ence natural that she should her It was Vas only and demand more of marriage to begin different eyes She wants it with look at And out of at It aU all that she can to get with twinkle Maugham a said Mr today lt It is woman who gets the in his eyes claims bargain She not only best of at the that she received when advantages the chattel and needed the law to she was a has added as well weB she but protect her bel freedom that her independence independence inde- inde the power and has bas given her example F Formerly For For- o r- r an as Take alimonY divorced or when a woman was merly she nad no husband separated from her and so of earning a means the law had to torte torce the man to provide woman unless the tor ner But today children she does not need alimony h nor nothing noth done who have Yet there are women at all to deserve It or who marry just ing get the alimony and the man haS to pay It He is helpless Isn't it unfair for woman to insist upon equality In an all things but when it comes to the taw haw to want her old privileges even even when she is not in the least entitled to them However I feel it is only a question of at time when man and woman will be equal before the law Jaw It may be that even women themselves will insist upon this change and the marriage of the future will be from a legal standpoint a more equal and a more fair arrangement than it is today As for the other a great many changes will doubtless take place I think that marriage will become purely a civil contract which either party will wUl be able to terminate easily Then you believe that we will gradually gradually grad grad- come to adopt Russia's arrangement arrangement arrange arrange- ment Mr Maugham was questioned Not exactly he replied I think that there they can terminate their marriages on no grounds whatever The husband may be bored or the wife may imagine that she likes some one else cise and he or she can immediately procure a divorce even If they have only just been married That would not be a very Ideal condition condi- condi tion nor would it benefit society What 1 mean Ls is that when a husband or wife has hM substantial grounds for tor divorce after at least a year of marriage that they will be able to terminate it with no more difficulty than it required to marry them After all one doesn't expect expect ex- ex busine partners to endure each other If they cannot get along so why should one expect It of marriage partners partners part part- ners ct B UT the interviewer ventured in that event we cannot look for a decrease decrease de- de crease in the number of divorces No smiled the author I And it if any anyone anyone one thinks we have many divorces today he can be prepared to see the number doubling as the years go on Hereafter we will have to accept dIvorce very much muchas as we do marriage For FOJ unless we make th the exit as easy as th the entrance we are going to have the situation where people will wUl not be inclined to Marry at all an They will se I their experiences without the sanction ot of marriage This is no leis ls true of the woman than of the man With her economic freedom her ber enjoyment 0 of the single standard and her knowledge of contraception marriage is not as alluring as it used to be If she feels that should she enter marriage and find she had made madea a mistake she will have to suffer the rest or of her life for it she will naturally be wary of at marrying After all we have only one life to live and we want to get the most out of It If people are going to regard marriage as asa asa a trap they will do what they can to avold it And you cant can't blame them That is why 1 hope the future will see marriage a more free relationship than It is now and one that may be easilY severed But wont won't that rob marriage of at some of its sanctity he was asked No because there can be no sanctity about a marriage in which either of the parties finds the relationship intolerable When two persons live together merely because they cannot find a aay way ay to get rid of each other that marriage has lost it its sanctity To my mind it is akin to legal T 1 If the relationship is to be sacred at all it must be gladly and willIngly will will- upheld by both husband and wife The whole trouble is that we have sentimentalized sen- sen marriage It has bas become theone the theone one and glorious ideal to go through life with the person we have wedded until the very ery end no matter how much suffering misery and unhappiness it may entail But that Is wrong and we are arc beginning to see that today Isn't the more idealIstic ideal ideal- and certainly more sacred marriage the one to which husband and wile wife contribute contribute con con- tribute everything because of their own free will wUl and because beca use of their love and devotion A marriage union should be an honest union and not one that chains the people who enter into it Men and women have already become so Individualistic that they will not tolerate tolerate tol- tol erate any relationship which thwarts their growth or smothers their chances for hap hap- They want to live their lives to the fullest and it if marriage does docs not foster foster fos- fos ter their development they will terminate terminate nate itOn It On the other hand 1 dont don't want to create the impression that this sort or of relationship will make for matrimonial bliss either smiled Mr Maugham That ts is another sentiment on our part Marriage means sacrifice sell and responsibility and unless people are for both they should not marry I think the French people show more common commonsense commonsense sense about marriage than any other nation They know that marriage is for companionship and for the purposes of founding a family They do not rush Into it to gratify their natural instincts and when those have flickered out try to build a substantial relationship out of the re- re mains When we stop entertaining silly ideas about marriage we will then have bave at least a greater chance for happiness than we now v have Marriage is a profession and people must make the effort to learn all they can about it the same as they would any other profession I think that the future will see courses in matrimony in our schools It is nothing short of absurd to expect two persons to play the game with any degree of intelligence when they are not at aU all equipped for It Any physician ph cantell can tell teU you ou that many of the maladjustments in marriage are due to sheer Ignorance IT T MAY MAYbe be of interest to relate here that W W. Somerset Maugham himsel was a physician before he embarked on a career N ak a novelist and playWright As a youngster youngster young young- ster he never showed any strong literary proclivities He was sent to Kings King's School Canterbury and from there he went to Heidelberg University He fie then studied medIcine at St. St Thomas Thomas' Hospital located near Lambeth one of the slums of Lon Lon- don He practiced for a while and his contact with all sorts of people and cases stimulated him to write a book based on his experiences This was Liza of Lambeth Lambeth Lam Lam- beth a study ot of slum lie Ufe which was so stark a piece of at realism that it shocked england Financially the book was a failure but It at least served to encourage Maugham to turn to writing as a career He wrote several novels and plays but he did not realize any real success until his play Lady Frederick was produced It made an Immediate hit in London and Maugham wn was besieged on aU all sides for fOJ plays He had three more In his bis trunk which had been rejected and these he now easily sold They were Jack Straw Mrs Dot and The Explorer and they likewise found quick favor with the pub pub- Uc All four plays ran in London at the same time and he is perhaps the onlY I l aa 1 M playwright since Oscar Wilde who ever enjoyed such an honor However It is not only his plays which have made him universally known On the the contrary he is essentially a novelist noveli t and had he written nothing else but Of Human Bondage he would have made his reputation in the literary world In all of his writings one can see the mark of his physicians physician's training by the Infinite patience with which he be observes by his quick power of diagnosis and bythe by bythe the fact that no detail seems to escape him He is interested in every phase of life Naturally since nothing affects the thel l lives ves of human beings so much as the marriage relationship Mr Maugham l has made more than a casual study of this great problem It is his belief that the majority of unhappy marriages are contracted by those who are too young and too immature imma- imma ture to go Into marriage ONLY those who are capable of judgment judg- judg ment who know life and whose characters are formed should marry he be said Those who marry r too young oung do not know their own min minds Consequently Conse- Conse the sex interest is soon exhausted and they find they have nothing to hold them together Not ot even a child chUd Is a sum sum- clent bone When they marry later sex ses is likely to be only one factor They will look for other important thIngs before they venture to choose a mate Since S L j It I r j. j I I tr 1 they have ha passed through the first flush of exciting youth they can settle down doWD downto to a marriage of reason one where they win will be joined together by a community of interests If like the French they marry without a strong love interest so much the better For love is exacting and I makes too many demands of one When one is not terribly In love with a person but likes him and gets along well wIth him one will not expect too much of him Perhaps in the future we will consider r f fIt It for any one under the age of 25 to marry On the other hand since the sex instinct is a strong one and youth is naturally Impulsive we may come to 0 adopt trial marriage That is there will willbe be a preliminary stage before the mar mar- singe becomes final This Is as yet ret considered quite radical but what is radical today may become i. i the accepted thing tomorrow This 11 particularly true of America Here We moves so swiftly that the passing of 0 o j ja a few years sees amazing changes I made ay first visit to this country Just twenty years rears ago and although I have been here j many times since the changes in Amert- Amert can life Ufe sInce that first visit have ha been 1 simply tremendous Who knows therefore therefore there there- fore what even the next twenty years year VIII 11 bring forth in the marriage situation h America C W by Ledger |