DESERTION OF THE FAMILY

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 224, 9 June 1923, Page 15

DESERTION OF THE FAMILY

THE FRENCH VIEW. Some weeka ago tho Union Fraternelle des Femmes invited a publio discussion on the question of desertion of the family by its supporters. Should a man. for instance, who deserts hi< family be punishable by prison? The question was apt, for since the war innumerable marriages have come to grief in France, as in other countries, and numbers of young women hav« been deserted by their husbands and left to bring up their children as best they might (states a writer ip the Manchester “Guardian”). Some eminent lawyers gave their views, which on the whole were against making desertion a criminal offence, preceded by loss of the paternal powers and oivio rights. Napoleon, of course, saw to it that French law was lenient towards the man, on the principle that only one head was possible in a family. The Frenchwoman has few legal rights, as compared with the woman of other countries, but she has many concessions. The fact of being a woman accounts for a good many of the light sentences imposed for murder, and. in general, she counts a great deal more than at first sight would appear. The reasons given against the proposal for making desertion a criminal offence were that it would also make irrevocable the break in family life. The wife, for instance, who had sent her husband to prison would, it was argued, make for eever impossible any kind of reconciliation which, in the interests of the children, was so desirable. Many couples, said one of the speakers, lived “en facade,”, or in the show window, solely for the sake of the children, and such a punishment would inevitably destroy even this appearance of family life. It ia therefore all the more' interesting to see that M. Louis Marin has just in-' troduoed a Bill into the Chamber,, making desertion a criminal offence. It seems very doubtful whether iti will pass, as it is in opposition to S very large section of French .feeling, which is against all diminution of the rights of the man. On the othei} hand, the strong wave of public opinion concening the welfare of the child may give it a chance which it certainly would not have had otherwise. With the wife’s point of view the publio is not very greatly concerned. CRUMPETS. "Scotch Lassie” asks for a recipe for crumpets. 1. One pound of flour, one egg, three-quarters of an ounce of conn pressed yeast, lukewarm milk and water in equal parts one half teaspoonful caster sugar, a good pinch of salt. Cream the yeasii with the sugar; sift the _ flour, and salt together, make a well in the middle of the flour, and put in the yeast and the egg well beaten. Add the milk and water by degrees, and mix smoothly, beating the mixture well. Use enough milk and water to make the mixture of the consistency of batter. Cover the bowl, and set it in a warm place to rise for two hours. Bake the crumpets on a girdle _or thick-bottomed frying pan, letting them set well on one side before turn, ing them, so that the bubbles will come right through. 2. Make a sponge as for bread, but softer. Let it rise for a time; then take buttermilk, anq add enough warm water to make it s little over blood heat. Add a teaspoon, ful of salt for every pound of flour used; dissolve the salt in the warm buttermilk, and add the milk.