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' PRESERVE J
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ASA
FOR BRIDEJb
A Woman Observer's Plan II
to Apply the Methods of j||
Science to America's Great- ~~
est Social Problem, and
by Creating a College of
Observation in s
Notorious Divorce Colony,
Make Its Graduates
Divorce Proof.
By Leslie Curtis.
Former Associate Editor of the Reno
Gazette, Author of R cno
Reveries," Etc.
EVERYBODY has agreed that di
vorce Is one of the most se
rious problems of modern
America. The law has dealt with it,
society has dealt with it. and the
church is perpetually struggling with
ft No one has yet found any ef
fective remedy for the steady growth
of marital shipwreck. I have at
last found the remedy.
The only real progress In the
world of science has been made
since the microscope was discov
, ered. Only in the fields of chemis
try. biology and physics has tre
mendous progress been made, and
the reason is that in these fields
the microscope is available.
Science has discovered that we
learn from observation. If we can
see with the eye, we can learn.
I would apply methods of
science to the scandal of divorce.
1 would, so to speak, put under the
microscope the whole wretched,
miserable story of matrimonial mis
ery. and hy seeing and studying
would learn the remedy.
My plan is to establish a college
of observation here at Reno, where
the sad panorama of domestic mis
ery and misfits unfolds itself in
every possible phase and color.
Every expectant bridegroom and
every prospective bride should be
given a course in my School of
Applied Domestic Research. 1 ain
certain that a six months’ course
of lectures and daily attendance at
the divorce courts of Reno would
make my graduates divorce proof.
Under present conditions, women
marry more or less blindly, live
blindly, and often end up in Reno
or its equivalent with “Bachelor-ess
of Failure” written after each name
and a past full of knotholes as a
diploma. Why not reverse the us
ual order and place Reno first? '
Happiness would then be sure to
follow, based on a definite knowl
edge of what marriage means—and
what divorce costs.
I am perfectly serious in my
idea. The utility of it has already
been tested, because it Ims been
noted by interested people that the
second marriages of Reno "gradu
ates” are invariably successful.
This because six months’ observa
tion of others has taught them to
choose more carefully. Another
instance lies in the fact that few,
if any, divorces are secured by
home people. Boys and girls, min
gling with the human disappoint
ments from the East, learn invalu
able lessons and enter matrimony
with a seriousness worthy of ma
turity.
I believe in divorce, but not the
abuse of it, and two years in Reno
as an observer convinced me that
women are to blame for the ma
jority of unhappy marriages. Three
fourths of the women who go to
Nevada do not deserve divorce/), al
though they are evidently sincere
In thinking themselves abused.
They seek freedom because their
idea of marriage is fundamentally
wrong.
This is not true in all cases, but
in many.
Everybody knows good women
who have suffered agonies as the
wives of drug fiends and drunkards
and who are perfectly justified in
seeking freedom. Men who marry
for money are also despicable, but
it always takes two to make a bar
gain. and if girls knew how to
choose intelligently before mar
riage the drunkard, the drug fiend
and fortune-hunter would be over
stocked with mittens.
Husbands, in my opinion, are less
to blame for the prevalence of .11-
vorce than their wives. Women
z marry for any number of reasons,
but men usually for love, because
their field of choice is unlimited
and they always pick the one girl
b-
'■S’eA— t SB finFfilli 1 ■—-
“Every day the prospective brides and bridegrooms would receive lessons in the subtler phases of marriage and
-k.i " divorce. The ever-saddening sight of Reno’s divorce mill through the window
I would stimulate their eagerness to learn.”
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iviits"Leslie Curtis, Who, After Four Years’ Observation at Ktno, Evolved the Idea
of Starting a College of Observation There to Study the Causes of
the Divorce Evil.
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“The most im ''■ ' . V' Vg v- X, w
portant course . ’
will be the study HMf ...?/' I \ ——Z
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of actual cases '.•■itClj > ■*•’ J* r I
in the court.
The bride will ■( . W F \
be given a jrx> z / \/v 'I
micro s copic I '\V ZZ r
view of all their
phases.” '**
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who seems superior to all the rest. ®
Almost every man desires to be a i
model husband when he does set
tle down with his ideal, and has no
intention of promoting discord. But
when he discovers that his wife’s
illusions and ideas are foreign to
all the tenets of sane living, he
soon loses interest in the partner
ship. Wifie goes to Reno, eventu
ally, and hubby pays alimony all
tha rest of his life.
My school for brides would pre
vent such tragedies. “Forewarned
is forearmed” is an excellent motto.
With Reno for a location, life’s
lessons could bo illustrated with
jiving examples, a far more im
pressive method thah dry lectures,
or legislative cures.
I would have Reno kept, by an
act of Congress, just as it is, with
special provision against making
it any harder to get a divorce. The
Government would maintain Reno
as a divorce reserve, pavine nil
bills incurred by those seeking d -
vorce. &
Then I would have all the States
pass a special act providing funds
for the mainte-
for any length of time. What la's
the reason? wj
Acquaintance with these daz
zling ladies would soon teach my
pupils that beauty usually carries
with it an over-developed vanity
and love of admiration, which, in
the close companionship of. mar
riage, counteracts the advantage of
comeliness. The prettv woman is
so accustomed to compliments that
she feels neglected if her husband
fails to rave over her beauty every
time he comes into her presence.
No matter how much a man ap
preciates the good looks of his
wife, he cannot be always talking
about it, because there are more
vital -things to occupy his thoughts
in these days of keen business com
petition.
The wise wife will understand
this seeming indifference; the un
wise vfill find joy in attracting the
admiration of other men. This,
no matter how harmless at first,
will lead to the divorce court
sooner or later. Reno is full of
beautiful, vain creatures, whose
greatest joy In life is to hear a
masculine voice whispering, “You
are so beautiful!”
After my pupils had been given
this general view, expert psycholo
gists would take up certain appli
cants for divorce in detail and dis
sect her character as thortiughly
as a subject is dissected in a clinic.
Course Number Two would be
taken every afternoon at the Uni
versity of Nevada, for, while my
pupils are using human models in
finding “What not to do,” they
must also be absorbing, in a prac
• tical way, “What to do and how to
do it.” In the Domestic Science
class not only do they teach cook
ing so that it becomes a pleasure
rather than drudgery, but also econ
omy in buying, measuring and util
izing food stuffs with the least pos
sible waste. All these things in
spire in young women the desire to
do things right when they have
homes of flieir own.
Course Number three would con
sist of observation in the cottages
and apartments of divorcees.
Life is unconventional among col
ony members, and we would be able
to find untidy kitchens and dis
ordered boudoirs with tousled dress
ers and a thousand and one cos
metics in plain view. Expensive
lingerie thrown carelessly about
indicates several characteristics of
the owner, especially if laundry de
vastation goes unmended and loops
of torn lace are held with pins.
Such investigations offer unlimited
nance of my
College of Ob
servation. All
the brides and
b ride grooms
__ would have to
g do would be to
® pay for their .
T keep and a
: nominal tuitiou
Xi charge.
Course Num
ber One would
be to dispel the
g idea that beau- ’
■ ty alone will
g hold a hus-
■ band. It is a
H fact that three-
B fourths of Re-
■ no’s visitors
B can really be
B called beauti-
■ fu . Men rave
over them, seek
B the ir society
9 and become
5. madly infatu
ated —yet they
cannot hold
a husband
How Fish Families in Layers Fill Ocean Deeps
TTTT HEN a disaster occurs at sea,
\ 1 and people read that some
’ ' leviathan vessel has gone
down to the utmost depth of the
ocean, imagination is stirred in
wondering what conditions sur
round her.
According to Sir John Murray,
one of the greatest authorities on
oceanography, the bottom is a
desert of pitch-black darkness,
penetrating cold, and eternal
silence. Worms, sea puddings, and
coral polyps sluggishly crawl or
sway in the almost currentless
depths, and only two species of tish,
both of them small, with much head
and little body, have been found
deeper than a mile and a quarter
down.
?i possibilities.
Course Number Four is merely a
study of folly. Occasionally my pu
pils should dine at the Colony Case
and other haunts of the husband
less elite. Surrounded by merry
parties of lovely women and their
admirers, lulled by seductive music
and served with choicest viands,
they could bask in the atmosphere
which starts many a pretty traveler
on the road to Reno. The glamour
of white lights in the great cities
becomes a mania with some women
and makes them forget the homely
things of life that really count.
No doubt mv ard -/room-
11
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• •.-Al’
“Drive men to run away with
their stenographers and others
who have a more accurate and
less lofty view of their character.”
lets would comment on the beauty
of this scene and see no cause for
censure or alarm. Later, when
frequent libations had flushed the
faces of flower-like women and
loosened up hilarious tongues, they
would be assigned to join some
party bound for a joy ride.
After a wild ride through the
mountains my pupils w’ould be so
disgusted that they would beg to be
taken home.
The range of fishes in the sea is
ns though it were divided into
layers, one above the other, and no
fish can live above or below this
layer. Thus many of the deeper
sish —three-quarters of a mile be
low the surface —have been found
floating at the top; they had
swallowed a fish as large or larger
than themselves and its buoyancy
had lifted them out of the strata
to which they were accustomed.
The physiology of a bottom fish
is almost Impossible to know, be
cause they are built to resist a
a tremendous pressure of water, and
when this pressure is released —as
when they are brought to the sur
face in a net —sometimes the fish
has burst; the organs are crushed
beyond reconstruction.
Similarly, if a fish of a higher
■tratum attacks a bottom fish in
Course Number Five, perhaps ths
most important, is a series of morn
ings at the court. There will be
studied the workings of the famous
“divorce mill.” Here, on the raw
testimony of husband and wife, my
pupils would be able to absorb the
subtler and most corroding horrors
of divorce. Stenographic reports
would be I ken and used later for
analysis by our college psycholo
gists. I would depend more for
real educational value, however,
upon the actual sight of the "mis
mated” ones upon the stand.
Course Number Six would be di
rected solely against jealousy. How
to avoid even the appearance of evil
would be one part of it. Learning
to discount the value of gossip, an
other. The suspicious mind is al
ways ready to discolor the most
innocent action, and the wife who
continually harps on her fears will
drive a man Into just what she de
plores. Every session of Reno's di
vorce court is a record of petty
jealousies, founded on hearsay and
little blocks of nothing. Naegine.
largely a fault of women, is closely
allied but should not be confused
with fault finding. The latter ap
pears to belong to the masculine
side.
Last, but not least, would come
Course Seven, dealing entirely with
the mental conception of marriage.
Many modern maids marry with the
idea that they are conferring a
great honor on mere man, and he
is never allowed to forget it. The
fault here is in exaggerated ego.
A good woman certainly honors the
man she marries, but the honoring
is not altogether on her side. She
has chosen him from a small num
ber of suitors, while he picked her
from an unlimited field. In ab
sence of anything better, she ac
cepts his offer and spends the rest
of her life impressing him with the
fact that she is far too good for
him and has done him an honor
which can never be repaid.
Such a marriage, founded on the
Invisible superiority of the bride,
is bound to drive the unappreciated
worm to the society of his stenog
rapher or some other human crea
ture, whose estimate of character is
more accurate and less lofty.
I have only briefly outlined the
high lights of the college I have
In mind. The plan is perfectly
practicable, and I am sure there
would always be enough applicant,
for divorce at Reno to keep the
students busy.
Why not let science have a trial
at divorce?
the neutral zone where both can
live, and —as sometimes happens—
his teeth become entangled so that
he cannot let go, and he Is dragged
into deeper water, he strangles
instantly, for his breathing ar
rangements are of no use to him
under the pressure of water in the
lower strata of the sea. As a rule,
however, the fish of the various
depths rarely feed on those above
or below them.
There have been brought to light
an astonishing number of forms of
fish, and especially of prawns of#
brilliantly red color, living In the
ocean at a depth of 3,000 feet But
astonishing as It may seem, these
brilliantly colored fish and prawn*,
instead of being conspicuous in t .e
water at that depth, are almost
invisible, when almost any other
color could be easily seen.