By "Smor"
The Russian press does not cease printing alarming reports on the number of divorces in the colony—which, if it does not increase, certainly shows no sign of decreasing. Many comparisons—half joking, it is true, have been made between Shanghai and Reno; and it must be admitted that the local family hearth is in a dangerous position. To say nothing of the ease with which divorces are granted by the Chinese court, the questions are often raised: why does love's flame die down so quickly? Which partner is usually the first to pronounce a cruel "no" instead of a soothing "yes?" How are the bonds of marriage transformed into paper streamers? Russian lawyers who have every chance to specialize in the local divorce question admit that between 50 and 60 divorces are registered at each of their offices anud as the number of lawyers g in this city is quite considerable, the process of multiplication reveals a number of divorces that is quite alarming.
Most divorces are filed—alas!—by wives, but the fault does not lie with them alone. And it must be stated on behalf of the fairer sex that divorces prompted by mercenary motives are rare. In most cases they spring from grave economical difficulties. Very often a wife is forced to take care not only of herself but of a whole family—husband included—and it is often the desire to free herself from an over laden task that makes her abandon her dreary existence for a new and happier one.
Most people seeking a divorce seem to fall into a definite age-belt, a good half of the women forsaking marital bliss between the ages of 25 and 35, and the same percentage of men after the age of 30, though now and again a lawyer's office is visited by couples so young they could hardly have given the home-fire time to start burning, Husbands who have reached respectable middle-age are, as a rule, loth to take part in divorce proceedings and do so only when forced by the decision of the court.
Grounds for Divorce that are not already under the direction of tte Russian Orthodox Mission in Peking.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.