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Show " AND OBEY" i BY JAMES I. VANCE "Love, honor and obey" Thus re cites the ancient liturgy of the mar-j nage altar. There Is no complaint against the "love and honor" part of the vow a j woman takes when she plights to aj man her troth but the "obey" featuro raises difficulties. Should the phrase' disappear from the marriage service? Does it make for a higher and holier! relation between husband and wife tu require a woman at the nnrnagc altar! to take a vow that she will obey her husband? No doubt there may be found a woman here and there who llk - There is enough of the survival of the age of savagery remaining in her blood for her to like a mate who Is rough; with her But for the average woman, there is a disposition to protest against the Beemlng inferiority .with which th word "obey" seems to brand her and her sex. It all depends on Tvhai ifl meant b ' and obey." Is the Idea that woman Is to bo servile0 ser-vile0 is the context of "obey" the doc trine that woman Is to trek along in the wake of her male lord, and hav no thought or wish apart from his'' If eo, the ow is broken ere it Is made. Women have gotten their emancipation emancipa-tion We are loo civilized even to try to keep the fetters on her. The story' of human progjeas is the story of tho r i p of womanhood. Is the thought merely that of unity in the home and a provision for nead ship in the husband, that the honif may be saved from domestic anarchv and chaos? If eo. Is this not already covered in "love and honor'" Love is the great spell binder for life and happiness. Only love can create . ; real union of hearts If love is lacking, words are useless "Obey" may he left in the serviec for the same reason that j Mil carve gargoyles on the cornice It is classic But obey" does not mar ry people Only love can form "the tie that binds." |