Why Marry? - BestLightNovel.com
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[_JOHN is too much surprised to notice LUCY'S presence._
JUDGE
Happy? What's that got to do with it? Marriage is a social inst.i.tution.
Theodore said so.... Every time a boy kisses a girl she should first inquire: "A sacrifice for society?" And if he says, "I want to gain character, sweetheart," then--"Darling, do your duty!" and he'll do it.
LUCY
Well, Theodore has certainly done _his_ duty by society--six children!
JUDGE
Then society hasn't done its duty by Theodore--only one salary!
JOHN
The more credit to him! He and Mary have sacrificed everything to their children and the Church--even health!
THEODORE
We don't need your pity! We don't want your praise! Poverty, suffering, even separation, have only drawn us closer together. We love each other through it all! Why, in the last letter the doctor let her write she said, she said--[_Suddenly overcome with emotion, turns abruptly._] If you'll excuse me, Lucy ... Sanitarium ... the telephone.
[_THEODORE goes into the house._
JUDGE
Not praise or pity but something more substantial and, by George, I'll get it for them!
[_Turns to JOHN, who interrupts._
JOHN
See the example _he_ sets to society--I honor him for it.
JUDGE
Fine! but that doesn't seem to restore Mary's radiant health, Theodore's brilliant youth.
LUCY
Ah, but they have their _children_--think how they adore those beautiful children!
JUDGE
No, don't think how they adore them, think how they _rear_ those beautiful children--in the streets; one little daughter dead from contagion; one son going to the devil from other things picked up in the street! If marriage is a social inst.i.tution, look at it socially. Why, a marriage like mine is worth a dozen like theirs--to Society. Look at my well-launched children; look at my useful career, as a jackal to Big Business; look at my now perfectly contented spouse!
LUCY
But if you are divorced!
JUDGE
Is the object of marriage merely to stay married?
LUCY
But character, think of the character they have gained.
JUDGE
Oh, is it to gain character at the expense of helpless offspring?
Society doesn't gain by that--it loses, Lucy, it loses.... But simply because, G.o.d bless 'em, "they love each other through it all," you sentimental standpatters believe in lying about it, do you?
JOHN
[_bored, whips out pocket check-book and fountain pen_]
Oh, talk, talk, talk! Money talks for _me_.... But they're both so confoundedly proud!
JUDGE
Go on, write that check! [_JOHN writes._] They must sacrifice their pride, John. Nothing else left to sacrifice, I'm afraid.
JOHN
Well, you get this to them somehow.
[_Hands check to JUDGE._
JUDGE
