My old co-ed college chum, Winifred Black, has recently propounded this question, “Why are husbands lobsters?” So I’ll explain to Winifred the cause of this sad state which devolutes a lover into a lobster. It’s like this: the rule is that the male of the genus homo is never any better than he has to be. Having said this much, let me further add that this truth also applies to the female of the genus homo. ¶ A marriage that is practically indissoluble gives the man security in his position. He is not obliged to win favors—he merely exercises his rights. As for the woman, she has him, and when she reminds him of the fact, hell is to pay. The man who stands on his rights, thinks about his rights, talks of his rights, belongs to the Lobsteria. He has ceased to be either loving or lovable. The only right any man should have is the right to be decent—that is, to be agreeable and useful ❦ One of Nature’s chief intents in sex is to bring about beauty, grace and harmony. The flowing mane and proud step of the horse, the flamboyant tail of the peacock, the song of the bird, the perfume and color of the flowers, are all sex manifestations, put forth with intent to attract, please and fascinate. Charm of manner is a sex attribute which has become a habit. The creative principle in all art is a secondary sex manifestation. The average married man feels that he is immune from the necessity of winning, pleasing, charming—he owns property. He’s a Turk! And from the Turk and the Comet, good Lord, deliver us! ¶ Public Opinion is the great natural restraining force. We are ruled by Public Opinion, not by statute law. If statute law expresses the Zeitgeist it is well, but often law hampers and restrains Public Opinion ❦ Divorce laws are obsolete in their character, and should die the death. A marriage that can not be dissolved tends to tyranny. There is a rudimentary something in man that makes him a tyrant—that divides humanity into master and slave—and to these barbaric instincts we are heir. The business of civilization is to make men free. And freedom means responsibility. ¶ The curse of marriage is that it makes the parties immune from very much of that gentle consideration which freedom bestows. Freedom in divorce is the one thing that will transform the marital boor into a gentleman. ¶ Freedom in divorce is the one thing that will abolish the domestic steam-roller. Freedom in divorce is the one thing that will correct the propensity to nag, in both male and female. We gain freedom by giving it. We hold love by giving it away. To enslave another is to enslave yourself. Constancy, unswerving and eternal, is only possible where men and women are free. ¶ Marriage was first a property-right. The woman was owned by the man. She was a chattel. He had the right of taking her life if she attempted to escape, or was otherwise unruly ❦ Then the priests came in and declared marriage a sacred rite. They brazenly declared that the marriage