Chapter I: Front Matter

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MODERN MARRIAGE
And How To Bear It

BY
MAUD
CHURTON
BRABY

AUTHOR
OF
"DOWNWARD"

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* * * *

MODERN MARRIAGE AND HOW TO BEAR IT

* * * * *
* * * *

NEW SHILLING REPRINTS

+LOVE INTRIGUES OF ROYAL COURTS.+ By THORNTON HALL.
+FALLEN AMONG THIEVES.+ By STANLEY PORTAL HYATT.
+THE UNCOUNTED COST.+ By MARY GAUNT.
+SIX WOMEN.+ By VICTORIA CROSS.
+DOWNWARD.+ By MAUD CHURTON BRABY.
+SCARLET KISS.+ By GERTIE DE S. WENTWORTH-JAMES.
+MISS FERRIBY'S CLIENTS.+ By FLORENCE WARDEN.
+RED LOVE.+ By GERTIE DE S. WENTWORTH-JAMES.
+MODERN MARRIAGE AND HOW TO BEAR IT.+ By MAUD CHURTON BRABY.
+BIOGRAPHY FOR BEGINNERS.+ By G. K. CHESTERTON. With 48 Illustrations.
+WHAT MEN LIKE IN WOMEN.+ By the Author of "How to be Happy
though Married."
+THE SALVING OF A DERELICT.+ By MAURICE DRAKE.
+THE NIGHT-SIDE OF LONDON.+ By ROBERT MACKRAY. With 65 Pictures
by TOM BROWNE.
+LADY JIM OF CURZON STREET.+ By FERGUS HUME.
+2835 MAYFAIR.+ By FRANK RICHARDSON.
+THE WILD WIDOW.+ By GERTIE DE S. WENTWORTH-JAMES.
+LETTERS TO A DAUGHTER.+ By HUBERT BLAND.
+THE GAME OF BRIDGE.+ By "CUT CAVENDISH." With New Rules of Bridge
and Auction Bridge.
+THE NIGHT-SIDE OF PARIS.+ By E. B. D'AUVERGNE. 20 Plates.
+THE WEANING.+ By JAMES BLYTH.
+THE METHODS OF MR AMES.+ By the Author of "John Johns."
+THE HAPPY MORALIST.+ By HUBERT BLAND.
+THE KING AND ISABEL.+ By the Author of "John Johns."
+THE SINEWS OF WAR.+ By EDEN PHILLPOTTS and ARNOLD BENNETT.
+MODERN WOMAN AND HOW TO MANAGE HER.+ By WALTER GALLICHAN.

_Press Notices Of_

MODERN MARRIAGE
_And How to Bear it_

PRESS NOTICES

+W. T. Stead in the Review of Reviews.+--"Mrs Maud Churton Braby has achieved a remarkable success. She has written an original book upon the most threadbare of all subjects, in which she has been as witty as she is wise . . . packed full of good sense, sound morality, and admirable advice. It is a book naked and unashamed, written by a woman of the world with the naïve simplicity of an innocent child, and arriving on the whole at conclusions worthy of any mother in Israel; a book full of profound wisdom irradiated by a pleasant wit and suffused with the glow of a genuine human sympathy."

+"Hubert" in the Sunday Chronicle.+--"On the whole I congratulate Mrs Braby on her book . . . it is the only book on the subject of Modern Marriage that has not made me feel rather ill . . . frank, without the slightest indelicacy, and bold without the least impertinence . . . a real contribution towards the solution of an intolerably difficult problem."

+Daily Telegraph.+--"Lively and frank . . . should prove instructive as well as readable and provide people with plenty to think about. The author has read widely, and thought deeply, and has a sufficiently broad mind to give her conclusions real value . . . should be read by all who think seriously on this most serious subject."

+Standard.+--"A good deal of sound thinking has gone to the book's composition and it is also illumined by a very kind and tender spirit."

+Bystander.+--"A clever and most entertaining volume . . . the reader may be assured of much that is sage and sound, and much that is witty."

+Black & White.+--"No one has gone so fully and vigorously into the various problems connected with marriage as Mrs Braby in her extremely readable book . . . one of the most vivid and original contributions to the discussion of a great problem that have appeared for a long time."

+Literary World.+--"Very brightly written, and even when most audacious is full of good feeling and good sense . . . amusing and shrewd . . . clever and stimulating."

_By The Same Author_

DOWNWARD:

An Attempt To Portray A
"Slice Of Life."

_A NOVEL._

By MAUD CHURTON BRABY
(_Author of "MODERN MARRIAGE AND HOW TO BEAR IT."_)

6s.

This is a powerful study of modern life in London, and concerns the hearts and passions of live men and women. Being the first novel by Mrs Maud Churton Braby, author of that vivacious and daring book, "Modern Marriage and How to Bear it." As might be expected, some of the serious problems of women are dealt with in its pages. The story concerns the fortunes of brilliant and undisciplined Dolly who, on the death of her mother, an actress, is compelled by the decree of a mysterious trustee to go first to a convent-school and afterwards become a hospital nurse. Her temptations and adventures at the Wimpole Street Nursing Home-- (in which environment other characters of much interest appear) --her tragic love affair, and the depths to which it brings her, together with her subsequent redemption, are related in a manner which makes a special appeal to the heart.

* * * * *
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MODERN MARRIAGE
AND HOW TO BEAR IT

by

MAUD CHURTON BRABY

"Marriage is the origin and summit of all
civilisation."--GOETHE.

_POPULAR EDITION_

T. WERNER LAURIE
Clifford's Inn
London

CONTENTS

PART I
SIGNS OF UNREST

Chap. Page

I. The Mutual Dissatisfaction of the Sexes 3
II. Why Men Don't Marry 14
III. Why Women Don't Marry 26
IV. The Tragedy of the Undesired 42

PART II
CAUSES OF FAILURE

I. The Various Kinds of Marriage 57
II. Why We Fall Out: Divers Discords 68
III. The Age to Marry 85
IV. Wild Oats for Wives 89
V. A Plea for the Wiser Training of Girls 101
VI. 'Keeping Only to Her'--The Crux of Matrimony 109

PART III
SUGGESTED ALTERNATIVES

I. Leasehold Marriage à la Meredith 119
II. Leasehold Marriage in Practice:
A Dialogue in 1999 129
III. The Fiasco of Free Love 141
IV. Polygamy at the Polite Dinner-Table 146
V. Is Legalised Polyandry the Solution? 159
VI. A Word for 'Duogamy' 161
VII. The Advantages of the Preliminary Canter 171

PART IV
CHILDREN--THE _CUL-DE-SAC_ OF ALL REFORMS

I. To Beget or Not to Beget--the Question
of the Day 177
II. The Pros and Cons of the Limited Family 184
III. Parenthood: The Highest Destiny 193

PART V
HOW TO BE HAPPY THOUGH MARRIED

I. A Few Suggestions for Reform 203
II. Some Practical Advice to Husbands and Wives 209

To

C. STANLEY CHURTON

The Best Father in the World

With Deep Gratitude

for a Lifetime of Loving-Kindness