DIVORCED FOR NOT KISSING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3551, 17 June 1912, Page 3

DIVORCED FOR NOT KISSING.

(“STRANGE REASONS FOR BREAKI 1.V., THE M A Mil AGE TIE.

Setae remarkable figures, relating t-o divorce in America were issued some time ago, when it was stated that in the last twenty years nearly i,oDl>,000 divorces had been granted in that country. As a matter of fact, there are more divorces in the United States each year than in all the rest of the work! -put together. To people in this country, no doubt, the figures are somewhat startling; but when the number of grounds on which divorce can ho obtained in America is considered this record in the breaking of ( the marriage tie does not appear so extraordinary. Each -State has its own free and easy divorce laws. In Kentucky, for instance,, it is possible for a woman to divorce -her husband- if he habitual ly indulges in violent and ungovernable temper, while in Maine ana North Dakota divorce is granted for intoxication from the, use of opium, cocaine, Chloral, and other narcotics. A peculiar case is that which exists in jiassachusetts and New Hampshire, in which States one may be divorced for belonging for three years to any religious sect which believes marriage to be unlawful. For miliciously turning his -wife out of doors a husband was divorced a short time ago in North Carolina, while severalcases have occurred in Utah in which husbands and wives have secured release from the matrimonial bond because they could not live together in peace and iffliison. Taking advantage of the Pennsylvania divorce laws,, a husband was recently successful in obtaining a divorce from his wife because, by her cruel and barbarous treatment, she had rendered his position intolerably. Habitual drunkenness and failure to support are also recognised in many of the States as sufficient grounds on which a woman may obtain a. divorce from her husband, while “mental in-* capacity at the time of marrfogeP is a cause in Georgia. The courts of the latter State, however, only grant divorces after the concurrent verdict of two separate juries * sitting at differen times.

At Washington, a short time ago, a judge of the local Divorce Court held that absence of the husband's morning and evening kiss constituted a cruelty and was calculated to make a woman’s life miserable in the extreme, and granted a divorce to the wife; while only the other iday a resident of Irvington, California, obtained a divorce from his wife, who deserted him a few years ago because she said she was unable to endure his perfections. According to his evidence, the husband gave his wife every luxury within his means, placed no restraints upon her amusements, and never showed jealousy. He never spoke an unkind word, and never used liquor, tobacco, or profanity, and never stayed out late at night.

.“Didn’t she find fault with you?’ asked the judge. “Oh. yes,” ’replied the husband. “’She frequently said she could have loved me if only I beat her. or at least scolded her, once in a while; but I con hint’ do it.”