Show The Marriage Problem By REBECCA WEST Author ol of The Tb Jud ud e. e The Tb Return cl of the Soldier etc tc The Small Apartment Responsible ble for So Many Divorces HAT marriage will be a century century century cen cen- W WHAT tury hence depends riot on chasing the boy and girl off on the dance floor and subjecting them to Puritan talk about lovemaking pretending that that which Is really renny extremely pleasant is uT ls- unpleasant but on three points which on the surface are totally totany unconnected with sex Two of oJ them look like malting making marriage marriage mar mar- less leu stable more likely to be broken up by divorce one of oJ them looks like keeping it more marc stable These three things arc are Houses liquor and transport The future of ot marriage depends ver very little on what people say and think about sex because sex sea Is so I deep a force that what people ople say any i and think Is as likely as not to be Just a R surface pretense designed ed to disguise from others and themselves them selves what It r really ally means to them em The future of oJ marriage does docs depend on the houses people live in what they drink and ancl the extent to which they are able to move about over the country The houses people live In affect I their marriage relationships profoundly pro pro- This Is not true of or very rich people who everywhere and andIn andIn andin In all ages have been given to di divorce divorce divorce di- di vorce because they get set a restless feeling that they can have everything everything every every- thing thins of t the best and that they had better get on with It before they die So they pass from marriage to marriage Just as they travel from country to country It Is also not true of ot very poor people who everywhere everywhere ev ev- everywhere and In all an ages cannot get divorced because they cannot afford alimony But It Is true of ot the vast class that lies between these extremes The TIe English Victorian middle class practically never got divorced They pretended it was because they were virtuous But was it If IJ you go and look at the villas they lived in an a al al' alternate ternate explanation will occur to you Those houses house have three and four Jour large sitting rooms with maybe mayle a billiard room as u well and eight or ten or more bedrooms and sized good gardens Even allowing for their larg large families they had plenty of oJ room to get away f from rom each other I When the husband and wife felt resentment against each other he could go Into his study on one story she Into her sewing room on another But a husband and wife living in a three three roomed roomed apartment or a bungalow cannot t move more than a few yards from the scene of their disagreements disagreement The person who is really breaking up modern marriage is the bricklayer And as It Is unlikely that that the cost of building will go down It seems probable that he will go on doing so The only essential condition of or marriage Is s that the per persons ons concerned concerned con con- should admire each other It Is Impossible to admire a person person person per per- son who Is eyed bleary and incoherent Incoherent incoherent Inco inco- herent and undignified Though the sma small apartment and the cocktail bar are working against the stability of the marriage marriage mar mar- of ot the future the earth It Itself Itself It- It self the soil we walk on on Is workIng workIng working work work- Ing for It People do not get dl dl- dl quite so lightly If It they are fixed for or life lite In one community Only one In every hundred Eng Bag lish marriages Is dissolved In America things are different People Peo Peo- pie rush rash up and down the new country staking out Its resources seizing Its opportunities and In the process they lose their husbands and wives as they might lose their luggage John Jolin Smith goes to California am and leaves his is wife Mary in Nebraska Nebraska- Mary Vary forgets forget him and makes other ar ar- or maybe John participates participates pates in the tile advantages that thai are arc said sail to belong to the vi visiting ting team anc and meets meet somebody who admires him so much that he forgets his Mary One in ten American marriages i is dissolved But this will trill end Americas America's resources will be staked out her opportunities will be rationed and John Smith will wil have hate to stick to his ii job and consequently consequently conse conse- to his 17 wife e. As for tor the essence of ot marriage apart from Its stability It will be bethe bethe bethe the same ame a century hence as It Is Isnow Isnow isnow now a c curious kind of ot cross between between between be e tween a n dog fight and the peace that all nil understanding something that nobody quite likes like and nearly everybody likes we well wel enough to stay In for life once they have got In So It will be one century century cen cen- tury hence or any number of or cen cen- hence It Public PUblic Ledger Lodger Inc S B |