88 Hattie Plum Williams 
who draws up a petition to the Consistory of the Lutheran church 
(in case they are Protestant Germans). ‘This is then sent to the 
Holy Synod of the Orthodox church which canvasses the matter 
and returns its answer through the Lutheran Consistory to the 
pastor. Local inquiry failed to find anyone who knew exactly 
by what ceremony or formula a divorce was granted, so un- 
familiar are the people with the phenomenon. But tradition says 
it occurs as follows: the couple appear before the pastor who says 
to them “God does not divorce; the devil does.” He then com- 
mands them to join hands as they had done at the wedding cere- 
mony and separates them as a sign of their divorce. The law 
permits remarriage after a certain period, but public sentiment is 
so strongly against the divorced woman that it is seldom she can 
remarry even if she be the innocent party.*? In their attitude 
toward divorce, as toward the position of women in the family, 
the Russian Germans seem to have been influenced by Russian 
sentiment more than by the lenient attitude of Luther.®? 
The divorce rate based upon the population given in the Census 
of 1910, was 3.7 per 1,000 the total population for Lancaster 
county, while the rate for the Russian Germans was .4 per 1,000. 
The proportion of divorces to the number of matriages can be 
more accurately stated. 
Taste XIX. Number or MarriaGes To ONE Divorce ror LANCASTER 
CoUNTY AND FoR THE RUSSIAN GERMANS, 1909-1914 
Year Lancaster County Russian German 
LOOO Sits rycen ac oaay ie, ain ene 3.8 17.6 
LOU ORs Arlen area rye tae ere tae COL 255 26.0 
LBOHGIG Mi rune Onin Ame ar a AN Ue ROS 3.5 20.3 
LO UZ Pec sean apkeetsens Gia nee ok Se 3.8 8.1 
TOUS Gai tee eae RE, Aon Men des Seales 4183 13.2 
LOMA seesetele tye 2. ctor Seber: 4.6 12.8 
62 Divorce is more rare among the higher classes than among the lower, 
on account of the stigma attaching to it. 
83 For the Protestant doctrine of divorce which was largely shaped by 
Luther, cf. Howard, A History of Matrimonial Institutions, II, 60 ff. For 
marriage and divorce in Russia, cf. Leroy Beaulieu, Empire of the Tsars 
and the Russians, Il, 201 ff. 
214 
