272 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



five husbands. In that country, the fact that a woman 

 was already married was in no degree a barrier to 

 subsequent marriages, even while the husband was liv- 

 ing, and without the trouble of a divorce. Those who 

 maintain the propriety of polygamy, would do well to 

 consider the historic facts respecting the opposite prac- 

 tice. There appear to be as good grounds for believing 

 one to have a basis in the human constitution as the 

 other. 



Divorce.— Another of the crying evils of the day, 

 and one which menaces in a most alarming manner the 

 most sacred interests of society, is the facility with 

 which divorces may be obtained. In some States, the 

 laws regulating divorce are so notoriously loose that 

 scores and even hundreds of people visit the States 

 referred to every year with no other object than to 

 obtain a dissolution of the bonds of matrimony. The 

 effect of this looseness in the laws is to encourage 

 hasty, inconsiderate marriages, and to make escape 

 from an uncongenial partner so easy that the obliga- 

 tion to cultivate forbearance, and to acquire mutual 

 adaptation, which may not at first exist, is wholly over- 

 looked. 



The Bible rule for divorce, laid down by the great 

 Teacher, is little regarded in these degenerate days. 

 He made adultery the only legitimate cause for divorce ; 

 yet we now see married people breaking asunder their 

 solemn marriage ties on the occurrence of the most 

 trivial difficulties. If a couple become tired of each 

 other, and desire a change, all they have to do is to 

 forward the fee to a New York or Chicago lawyer, and 

 they will receive back in a short time the legal papers 

 duly signed, granting them the desired annulment of 

 their vows. 



