it was the duty of a gentleman to drink to excess; and it was presumed
that a guest had not enjoyed his dinner unless he was at least
comfortably the worse for liquor. This view of drunkenness is admirably
depicted in Dickens's _Pickwick Papers_, where intoxication is treated
throughout as something merely humorous.

There were just as many unhappy marriages formerly in proportion to the
population as there are to-day; but the wife was held effectually from
application for a divorce not only by rigid laws but by the sentiment of
society, which ostracised a divorced woman, and furthermore by her lack
of means and of opportunity for earning an independent livelihood.
To-day women are not inclined to tolerate a husband who is brutal or
debauched. Alarmists make a mistake when they place too much emphasis on
the seeming triviality of the reasons, justifying their course, which
wives advance when applying for a separation. For example, the phrase
"incompatibility of temperament" is in a great number of cases merely a
euphemism for something much worse. The clergy will counsel a woman to
bear with what they call Christian resignation a husband addicted to
drink or scarred by the diseases that are a consequence of sin.
Abstractly considered, this may conceivably be good advice. But viewed
in a common-sense way it is the duty of a woman to reflect on the
consequences of conceiving children from such a man; and the researches
of physicians will furnish her with incontrovertible facts regarding the
impaired health of the offspring of such a union. A law which would
permit of no divorce under such conditions, instead of benefiting the
state, would injure it in its most vital asset--healthy children, the
coming citizens. Doubtless the divorce laws in many States are too lax.
But sweeping generalities based on theory will not remedy matters.
Divorce may simply be a symptom, not a disease; a revolt against unjust
conditions; and the way to do away with divorce or reduce the frequency
of it is to remedy the evil social conditions which, in a great many
instances, are responsible.

The fact is, the institution of marriage is going through a crisis. The
old view that marriage is a complete merging of the wife in the husband
and that the latter is absolute monarch of his home is being questioned.
When a man with this idea and a woman with a far different one marry,
there is likely to be a clash. Marriage as a real partnership based on
e