society. The Divorce Court record is certainly a proof that a good many of the weddings that are "arranged" are certainly not made in Heaven. Marie Corelli thinks, indeed, that many women have forgotten what marriage is, and she declares it to be an absolute grim fact that in England many women of the upper classes are not to-day married, but merely bought for a price.
"Marriage is not the church, the ritual, the
blessing of clergymen, or the ratifying and approving
presence of one's friends and relations at the
ceremony; still less is it a matter of settlements and
expensive millinery. It is the taking of a solemn
vow before the throne of the Eternal—a vow which
declares that the man and woman concerned have
discovered in each other his or her true mate; that
they feel life is alone valuable and worth living in
each other's company; that they are prepared to
endure trouble, poverty, pain, sickness, death itself,
provided that they may only be together; and that
all the world is a mere grain of dust in worth as
compared to the exalted passion which fills their
souls and moves them to become one in flesh as
well as in spirit. Nothing can make marriage an
absolutely sacred thing except the great love, combined
with the pure and faithful intention of the
vow involved."
Amongst all classes a very large number of
marriages mean all that. Amongst the poorer
classes—not the lowest classes—the proportion is
probably the largest, and amongst the middle
