OCR Text |
Show nu LARGE FAMILIES, FEW DIVORCES A close study of English divorce statistics covering a period of nine years just expired brings to light a series of curious and interesting facts, which heretofore le been matters of speculation and disputation. Two or three popular theories as to conditions con-ditions of life making for marital un-happiness un-happiness are explodedj others are modified, and new light is shed on some old problems. How closely tho results of the English inquiry would be paralloled by similar analysis of American divorce statistics It is im-possible im-possible to say, but seeing that British Brit-ish laws, people and conditions aro more like onrs than those of any other oth-er foreign t country, tho information derived hns both Interest and importance impor-tance for Americans. It is found contrary to the general impression that divorce Is most common com-mon among th middle class the people peo-ple of steady habits rather than among the arlstocrncy and the lower stratum of society, where the ox-tremes- of existence were supposedly moBt conducive to matrimonial disagreements. disa-greements. The larger the family tho less likelihood there is of the divorce court breaking up the homo is a rev- j elation calculated to shatter the tra- I ditlonal Idea that the burden of a largo family ls oftnor the cau;e of " desertion and dlorco thau any other. In fact, the very opposite Is soon to bo true, families with not chlldron having a divorce court percentage of 10, as against 2 per cent for those having six or more children Analysis makes it apparent also that curly marriages aro happiest, 'those formed under 21 years of age ending less disastrously than if tho I parties bnd waited until they had arrived ar-rived at tho age of discreton, as fixed by older counsel. The figures also answer the question. Does remarriage make for unhappincss? Xo; far from It Of this class, thoso who have been divorced onco seldom travel that devious de-vious route a second time Widowers and widows, too, uho take a second helpmate are more contended, 20 to 1, than the contingent whose experience is limited to n single trying of tho nuptial knot Washington Post |