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Show ON MARRIAGE VOWS. a SngUah iliw Wblah Saama to Raflaat 0 PuMlc Opinion. ; . Itliasid -iy cme morallats that, at mar--iiage ii-''for better, or worae," it is the duty' of-th'e wife t tremain wits her husband, no matter how bad he may be, and that the huabahd niUtal?o condone the errors of the most . intemperate wife, says the Los-don Los-don '. 8tarid.ard,r: By upholdln g 1 this" India-' solubility of marriage weoffer, it li argued, a great inducement to ths wife, to realaim her husband, if possible and to theman to attempt the reformation of the woman's-habits woman's-habits and life.! -There Is "somethin'a; In this ' plea, bat it waulhave more absolute force if marriage concerned only the husband and wife. We have, however, to take the cnildren into consideration. In the' first.' place, they- have ' before their eyes, the dreadful ezampleif a drunken father or a debased mother. Secondly, we must regard re-gard the question ef heredity. - Mrs. Faw-cett Faw-cett hss written a IKfry in which she suggests, sug-gests, as a difficult question; the duty of a wife who .discovers only after marriage that her husband is apt only a drunkard himself, but the son and grsadson of habit- ual sots.- She thinks with horror that' if she continues to live with him, she may become "tbe mother of a son who, as he grows up to manhood, will show, to her agony, all "the symptoms of the hereditary mania. She therefore leaves him. It will thus be sssn that the question isnot settled, even If the partner of the effendsr resolves to endure personally au .ths consequences of ths choice. He or she has to consider ethers as well. , We do not perceive why the Legislator Legis-lator osald .not oevise a short .act, fivLtf to ' ths wife c?-' husbsad of a habitual droLksra ttaTtgiV to saparatt ucasr, ef course, very strict, cesditlons. Tn hacit- " sal chaxactsr ot the eSease sast be clsariy proved ; the vafitnes el ths aaa or worn an.to have. the' custody, cf the children, if any, must be established; aad'every care should be taksa that tks release Is not a relief re-lief from the eipeat- of maintenance nor any dissolution of the marriage lwaif. .We beilsrethatitwsuid fee' quite tofideatto grant a simple teparaUoa, not allowing either party to Barry again. la this way the remedy -WOjuid .cSer so temptation to either side, Ontce contrary, the existence of such a means of redress would arm the sober husband or sebsr "wife with a powerful means of appeal.. A. woaiaa who," in spite of remonstrsncee, persisted in drink, could : be clearly told of the probable consequences of continued iaduifeace; ialgnt'. thus be arrested ar-rested early In the downward course. . The billmust, of course, be absolutely applieabie to the seses, and the same remedy to wom-saas wom-saas to men. No doubt there will be both husbands and wives unwilling to call Its provisions into sctiye force, . There arefop-; ; bearing mea and forgiving wataea 'who would- prefer to endure all wrongs rather than -tell the story In a publio" court, "let ..even for them it-will be well to know that redress, is within theip grasp. .Thsirsuf-. ferings will be ail the more tolerable when they feei they are voluntary, and 'that the law will assist them if - they elected to appeal ap-peal to it, A new enactment of the kind, however, would -bring Welccafs relief to thousands cf trembler hoass. y .. . |
