An Englishman on American Divorce

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 28, 1911

An Englishman on American Divorce

“WHAT astonishes us in England is the precipitate manner in which young American couples get together, and the ease with which they separate.” Such were the words that fell from the lips of an Englishman. The astonishment is not confined to England; it is shared by millions of Americans. Incidentally this Englishman gave the chief reason why divorces are so common in America—hasty engagements or marriages. Short acquaintances and long regrets generally go together. Young people meet, discover a few things they have in common, and then go to the marriage altar as they would to a picnic. They enter into the sacred compact “lightly and unadvisedly,” and when they have been together long enough to really know each other, the illusion upon which their affection was founded becomes apparent, and they sigh for a liberty which should forever be denied them. “In England we adjust our differences, and insist on reconciliation when estrangement takes place. When the marriage vow is taken, the door to separation is shut. The only door open to us is reconciliation and adjustment. In America, any little grievance, or incompatibility of temperament, is regarded as sufficient ground for breaking the marriage vow, and the divorce mill is kept going constantly.” Such, in substance, was the Englishman’s comment on one of our crying American sins.

Who will deny that it is just? Apart from hasty engagements or marriages, there are two other reasons why divorces are so common. One is the low estimate that is placed upon the marriage estate and its responsibilities, and the other is the ease with which divorced people find favor in the eyes of so-called respectable society.—Selected.