d be Heard in Secret.=--Newspapers should
not be tempted or allowed to gain advantage from the weakness, the
folly, or the vice of any member of any family which may be revealed
in such divorce proceedings. The fact of whether or not a divorce
applied for is granted, the fact of whether one or the other party or
both have received freedom, the fact of whether one or another was
pronounced guilty of treason to the marriage bond--these are all
subjects for news. The reasons for these decisions of wise and good
judges should not be given to the public in detail. The main
objections to the present publicity of divorce proceedings is, first,
that publicity is generally in proportion to the wealth of the
parties, as is also the prolongation of the proceedings; and second,
that such reports are generally of a demoralizing nature for the
public to read; and third, and not least, that few if any couples
seeking a divorce are without fathers or mothers or relatives,
children, or near friends, to whom the public revelation of the
marital unhappiness or the personal wrong-doing of the parties
involved is a pain and a shame.

=Earlier and Better Use of Domestic Relations Court.=--Another way by
which society should undertake to supply in newer and more democratic
forms the supervision, the control, and the support to the individual
married couple and their children, which the older collective family
organization sought to supply, is an earlier and a better use of the
Domestic Relations Court, or of some advisory agency to prevent the
breaking up of families. There should be something analogous to the
old "family council," some body of advisers well known and well
equipped for actual service, to help the bewildered and the unhappy.
The religious ministry should be able to supply such help. It often
does do so. The circle of friends may sometimes contain those of
wisdom and understanding who give needed aid toward a resumption of
broken relations on a higher and more enduring plane. There is
needed, however, something between the court to which people go for
relief from bonds, and the solitary struggle with difficulties before
that relief is sought, something which, if related officially to the
Domestic Relations Court, would be of a more flexible and private
nature than most of its proceedings. We need more an aid to avoidance
of marital rocks than a rescue, as from a life-boat, after the
shipwreck.

There are many forms of advice