NOVEL MARRIAGE EXPERIMENT

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 8, 10 January 1912, Page 9

NOVEL MARRIAGE EXPERIMENT

PHILOSOPHER'S SCHEME. How to Main one's individuality although married, is the fe.ubject of an interesting announcement made recently by Mr. Max Eastman, a Professor of Philosophy at Columbia. University, and his wife, " Miss Ida Rauh." The newly married couple inform their friencis that they wish t<> be ' known now, as before, by their own names, so as not to mix their individualities. On the door-plate outside their residence the names " Professor Eastman" and "Ida Rauh" are engraved in equal-sized letters, and their visiting cards are similarly inscribed. " I get quite cross when people call my wife ' Mrs. ' Eastman,' " the professor explained to interviewers, "for ray desiro w that- she 'should bo entirely independent of me in every way ; a» free, in fact, as before we were married." " All marriages," aaid " Miss Rauh," "an trial marriages in these days, and everything one does in this life is an experiment. Our marriage, v however, is nob a trial marriage, with a time-limit as ' its feature. We- have n<> theories about marriage. We simply wanted to be together."' Miss Kauh is secretary to ' the Women's Trade Union League, and her husband, like herself, is in favour of votes for women. When asked if his wife's attention to outside matters did not interfere with- home life, Professor Eastman exclaimed: "Certainly not. Men carry on their work without neglecting their homes, so why should not women? They also should be economically independent, and then we should have perfect homes and perfect marriages." " What- is wanted.* 4 interrupted Miss ituuh, "is for women to have liberty to choose. If the wife is domestic pnd wants to stay at home, then ehe should bo free- to do that. If she takes care of the home and rears children, ehe is self-supporting jusfc as much as if she worked outside for a salary. A wife who wanta to work at something else and who has talent for something outride the home should be free to do as she likes. Women were not born with pans tied round their necks as a sign that it was their destiny to wash them. "If women could have this freedom the standard of marriage would be wonderfully raised. The ideas of support and gratitude uiu'bl bo removed from marriage, which is not a sacrament but a legal status." The friends of the couple regard the experiment of separate identities as an interesting social novelty. (

By thrift ho had become well-to-do, and ho had a splendid St. Bernard dog, which he was very proud of. Ono day the servant eumo to him horror-stricken. "Master, master, Caesar is— — " "Is what?" "Mad I He won't touch water, and he foams from the mouth constantly." "Goodness gracious! It is lucky you discovered it in time. You must not lose a minute. Tako tho animal uttonco befoio ho has bitten txayoaasss.*' . ¥o», sir." ■"And soil him I"- *""