CHAPTER XXVII.
A Word on Marriage and Divorce.—Scenes for an Opera-Bouffe.—An Amateur Dentist.
s I have said elsewhere, each State of the Union makes its own laws. The result is, that a thing which is legal in one State is not necessarily legal in the others.
The most curious, and those which differ most, are the laws upon marriage and divorce.
If it is easy to get married in the United States, it is still more easy to get unmarried.
In the State of New York, for instance, if you go to a hotel with a woman, and inscribe Mr. and Mrs. so and so on the register, the Law looks upon you as legally married to that woman, but the marriage is not recognised as valid in some other States. To obtain a divorce in the State of New York, you must prove infidelity on the part of your wife; but just across the Hudson, in the State of New Jersey, it is to be obtained on a proof of cruelty or incompatibility of character. If this is not easy enough for you, take the train to Chicago, where divorce is to be had for the asking almost.
The Court of Divorce in Chicago, called by the Americans the "divorce mill," decided 681 cases during the year 1887.
This institution is just as flourishing in the State of Indiana as in Illinois. The Easterners jokingly pretend that, as the train rolls into the capital of Indiana, the porters cry out: "Indianopolis—twenty minutes for divorce!" so that couples who may have fallen out on the journey can part company for good.
Does the husband snore, or chew; has he disagreeable breath, or a clumsy manner of kissing his wife? does that lady wear false hair, give her tongue too free play, or habitually take up the newspaper as soon as her husband shows signs of dropping into sentiment? all these offences are serious ones before the aforesaid tribunals.