FRIENDS AND MARRIAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18460, 25 July 1923, Page 14

FRIENDS AND MARRIAGE.

It is a popular belief that marriage separates friends. The wedding takes place to general acclamation. There is a solid phalanx down each side' of the church ; all rejoice in assisting at the ceremony which is said to sound the death-knell of friendship. ■ '•;<:.■ _ . ;■ , It is understandable that a married man is not as acceptable as a bachelor to hostesses, but do men-friends also relax the strings of friendship? Must wedded happiness always be.a barrier to intimacy outside the home/ To a certain extent this is, so. The ties and responsibilities - of home life prevent that freedom of intercourse and careless hospitality that marked the old friendships. Unattached friends feel diffident,at first about intruding upon the newly-married pair. By the time this feeling » has worn off the breach has been made, and they have, become accustomed to the absence of the one whom marriage has claimed. ° The happy couple, too, have no intention of dropping old friends. In many cases it ia their habits rather than their feelings thai change, but habit makes slaves of us all. The man goes home to his wife at the ond of the day's work, instead of dining out with other men. The wife confides her thoughts and opinions to her husband instead of to' her best friend: Friendship is based largely on the same ideals at; marriage. The human objection to solitude and the desire for a c6nfidant are answered, by both, but generally at different periods of life. " 4 ' Marriage does not destroy true friendship, but it lessens the time available for its cultivation, and sometimes reduces its intensity.