A Social Study of the Russian German 95 
certain girl who had relatives in Lincoln and who wished to come 
to America should use the transportation. Instead of getting off 
at Lincoln she ignorantly went on to the town called for in the 
ticket, where she was met by the young man and his relatives who 
tried to persuade her to marry him. When she objected, they 
read what they pretended was a letter from her sister in Lincoln 
saying that she would not take care of her; and, since the girl had 
expected her relatives to repay the young man for the ticket, she 
was in great distress. Finally the people gave her liquor, and 
while she was intoxicated she was married to the young man. 
The next day her sister arrived from Lincoln and took her to her 
home, and a year later the marriage was annulled. 
Remarriage among divorcees is the general rule with the Rus- 
sian Germans in Lincoln. There is no disposition for them to 
remain single, in spite of the ostracism which is practiced against 
divorced persons among the people in the Lincoln settlements. 
Tales defaming the character of the divorced person, particularly 
if-it be a woman, soon begin to spread ; and though the individuals 
be entirely innocent, neighborhood gossip adds the burden of 
suspicion to their already troubled existence. Girls in factories 
and laundries have been known to refuse to work beside a divorced 
Russian German woman of good moral character, giving as their 
only reason, “She’s divorced.” This attitude of the community 
tends to hasten marriage among such as are unfortunate enough 
to be divorced, many of them contracting new alliances at the 
end of the six months’ interlocutory period.®* 
The effect of a new and strange environment upon the attitude 
of the. Russian German toward marriage and divorce is plainly 
marked. There is a loosening of the ties very largely as a result 
of the lax marriage laws in our American states. The Russian 
German has been accustomed to publication of the banns for three 
weeks preceding the ceremony; but where this formality is not 
required by law, the way is opened for elopement and clandestine 
91JTn December, 1914, a Russian German woman was granted an inter- 
locutory decree in the Lancaster district court and less than a week later 
was married in Council Bluffs, returning at once to Lincoln, where she has 
since made her home. 
221 
