SOLVENT MARRIAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20481, 5 February 1930, Page 17

SOLVENT MARRIAGE.

THE MODERN WIFE. It. is perhaps fortunate for our peace of mind that individually wo are never prepared to regard ourselves as members of that much-criticised and nebulous mass, " the public!"

It is for " the public" that silly plays and feeble novels are »writtcn, while we, discriminating mortals, know what we want. By the same loken, when books dealing with social problems como our way, and the statistics are somewhat disconcerting, wo consolo ourselves with the reflection that such figures refer to people outside our immediate circle.

Such an attitude, for instance, was anticipated by the writer pf the introduction to a recent book dealing with the so-called bankruptcy of marriage, when he warned (ho reader against saying: ibis may be all very well in America, but, thank heaven, steady-going England is still safe for slippered domesticity.'' Nevertheless, 1 venture to say that happy marriago is still the social backbone of this country, stales a London writer. Ou reflection, I am inclined to justify an attitude which may be regarded by statisticians as ostrich-like by pointing out the obvious truth that only unhappy marriages and various tolher emotional contretemps get reported in the newspapers. /

The eminently successful onos all around us—which, even taken on a severely statistical basis, are far in excess of tho failures—wo accept as a matter of course, practically without comment. ' People who readily reveal details of their intimate life and [iychology for the purpose of enabling charts to be drawn up, often do so from a broadminded appreciation of the value of scientific investigation of such matters. Oil the other hand, doubtless many individuals who contribute their experiences do so from a desire to talk about and analyse themselves;'-and they probably exaggerate their abnormalities. Whichever way you look at it, these people, I believe, have no connection with the men and women who make marriage the sanest, safest and most satisfactory thing in life. *

Experts who set out to prove that modern marriage is a failure always stress tho fact that the -young women

of to-day are pleasure-loving on the one hand, or 100 keen on careers to make satisfactory wives on tho other. " Pirouetting to the rhythm of the tango, the contortions of the Charleston, cigarette in. hand, shimmying to the music of the masses, the New Woman and th*i New Morality have made their theatric debut upon the modern sceno!" Js this a fair picture of us? It. sounds like a film caption; but actually it is a quotation from a serious and responsible writer.

The majority of ns most,certainly dance, smoke, love pleasure, and have interests beyond domesticity—even if we have 110 career. But 1 emphatically assert that very few women allow these things to interfere with the smooth-running of their horncs; and when we found u certain amount of economic security on our own '*account we automatically made our marriages more secure.

We do not have to depend upon our husbands for actual support; or if, for family reasons, wo prefer to do so, it is with the comforting knowledgo that we can. if circumstances render it advisable or necessary, revert to supporting ourselves at any moment. If marriage was considered " solvent" in the days of the clinging woman, surely it is farther than ever from bankruptcy when both parlies pull their weight. What some of Iho critics of the modern woman has got to learn is that dependence is not necessarily fidelity !