Modern marriage and how to bear it

by Maud Churton Braby

[ PRESS NOTICES OF] MODERN MARRIAGE And How to Bear it

PRESS NOTICES W. T. Stead in the Review of Reviews.—“Mrs Maud Churton Braby has achieved a remarkable success. She has written an original book upon the most threadbare of all subjects, in which she has been as witty as she is wise . . . packed full of good sense, sound morality, and admirable advice. It is a book naked and unashamed, written by a woman of the world with the naïve simplicity of an innocent child, and arriving on the whole at conclusions worthy of any mother in Israel; a book full of profound wisdom irradiated by a pleasant wit and suffused with the glow of a genuine human sympathy.” “Hubert” in the Sunday Chronicle.—“On the whole I congratulate Mrs Braby on her book . . . it is the only book on the subject of Modern Marriage that has not made me feel rather ill . . . frank, without the slightest indelicacy, and bold without the least impertinence . . . a real contribution towards the solution of an intolerably difficult problem.” Daily Telegraph.—“Lively and frank . . . should prove instructive as well as readable and provide people with plenty to think about. The author has read widely, and thought deeply, and has a sufficiently broad mind to give her conclusions real value . . . should be read by all who think seriously on this most serious subject.” Standard.—“A good deal of sound thinking has gone to the book’s composition and it is also illumined by a very kind and tender spirit.” Bystander.—“A clever and most entertaining volume . . . the reader may be assured of much that is sage and sound, and much that is witty.” Black & White.—“No one has gone so fully and vigorously into the various problems connected with marriage as Mrs Braby in her extremely readable book . . . one of the most vivid and original contributions to the discussion of a great problem that have appeared for a long time.” Literary World.—“Very brightly written, and even when most audacious is full of good feeling and good sense . . . amusing and shrewd . . . clever and stimulating.”

BY THE SAME AUTHOR DOWNWARD: AN ATTEMPT TO PORTRAY A “SLICE OF LIFE.” A NOVEL. By MAUD CHURTON BRABY (Author of “Modern Marriage and How to Bear it.”) 6s.

This is a powerful study of modern life in London, and concerns the hearts and passions of live men and women. Being the first novel by Mrs Maud Churton Braby, author of that vivacious and daring book, “Modern Marriage and How to Bear it.” As might be expected, some of the serious problems of women are dealt with in its pages. The story concerns the fortunes of brilliant and undisciplined Dolly who, on the death of her mother, an actress, is compelled by the decree of a mysterious trustee to go first to a convent- school and afterwards become a hospital nurse. Her temptations and adventures at the Wimpole Street Nursing Home—(in which environment other characters of much interest appear)—her tragic love affair, and the depths to which it brings her, together with her subsequent redemption, are related in a manner which makes a special appeal to the heart.

MODERN MARRIAGE
AND HOW TO BEAR IT

BY

MAUD CHURTON BRABY

“Marriage is the origin and summit of all
civilisation.”—Goethe.

POPULAR EDITION

T. WERNER LAURIE
CLIFFORD’S INN
LONDON

[ CONTENTS]

[PART I] SIGNS OF UNREST
CHAP.		PAGE
[I.]	THE MUTUAL DISSATISFACTION OF THE SEXES	3
[II.]	WHY MEN DON’T MARRY	14
[III.]	WHY WOMEN DON’T MARRY	26
[IV.]	THE TRAGEDY OF THE UNDESIRED	42
[PART II] CAUSES OF FAILURE
[I.]	THE VARIOUS KINDS OF MARRIAGE	57
[II.]	WHY WE FALL OUT: DIVERS DISCORDS	68
[III.]	THE AGE TO MARRY	85
[IV.]	WILD OATS FOR WIVES	89
[V.]	A PLEA FOR THE WISER TRAINING OF GIRLS	101
[VI.]	‘KEEPING ONLY TO HER’—THE CRUX OF MATRIMONY	109
[PART III] SUGGESTED ALTERNATIVES
[I.]	LEASEHOLD MARRIAGE À LA MEREDITH	119
[II.]	LEASEHOLD MARRIAGE IN PRACTICE: A DIALOGUE IN 1999	129
[III.]	THE FIASCO OF FREE LOVE	141
[IV.]	POLYGAMY AT THE POLITE DINNER-TABLE	146
[V.]	IS LEGALISED POLYANDRY THE SOLUTION?	159
[VI.]	A WORD FOR ‘DUOGAMY’	161
[VII.]	THE ADVANTAGES OF THE PRELIMINARY CANTER	171
[PART IV] CHILDREN—THE CUL-DE-SAC OF ALLREFORMS
[I.]	TO BEGET OR NOT TO BEGET—THE QUESTION OF THE DAY	177
[II.]	THE PROS AND CONS OF THE LIMITED FAMILY	184
[III.]	PARENTHOOD: THE HIGHEST DESTINY	193
[PART V] HOW TO BE HAPPY THOUGH MARRIED
[I.]	A FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR REFORM	203
[II.]	SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE TO HUSBANDS AND WIVES	209