The United States holds the record for the great number of divorces that take place there... This operation of "divorce" is among the simplest that can befall an American, and he resorts to it for silly, sometimes even unreasonable, causes... It has been told, for example, that a man divorced his wife because the cat his wife had brought sneezed in his face!... We recount below the latest divorces in which the whole world has taken an interest — with the exception of America itself, since divorce there is a very simple matter, as we have said.
A woman from "New Jersey" asked to be divorced because her husband beat her whenever she made a mistake in spelling... He is, it appears, one of the disciples of Sibawayh.
A woman from "Nebraska" stated that the reason that drove her to divorce was that her husband refused to go out every evening... She is seventy years old, and he eighty-two!
A mother of five children complained, seeking divorce, because her husband drove one of his children's carriages with a single hand... What is to be done? Nothing easier than divorce!
A husband from San Francisco won his suit with ease: his wife slept with 27 cats!
A husband from "Harsdale" sent his wife the following letter: "I got married last week. I hope you will find no objection to that." Does this call for anything but divorce?
A husband in "Minneapolis" was granted a divorce because his wife took for herself the greater part of the blanket! Another man, from "Detroit," held it against his wife that she
summoned spirits and ghosts. He had no complaint against her at first, but when his mother-in-law came to live between them, he considered that the bounds of reason had been passed — and the judge was of his opinion!
Judge "Granot" of "Spokane" decreed a divorce for a young woman who held it against her husband that he cut off the head of the Christmas rooster with an axe!
As for "W. F. Russell," who is 85 years old and from Chicago, he never raised any objection when his wife contented herself with chasing after him, threatening him with a big kitchen knife and pelting him with glass vessels... But when his wife's friend chased after him, pulled the teeth from his mouth, and kicked him with both feet — then he decided, regretfully, to divorce his wife!
Monsieur Christophe Dembal divorced his wife because she pricked him with a needle while caressing him...
In the state of "Iowa" one elderly husband was asked why he had divorced his wife, and out of bashfulness he made no reply... When the questioner pressed him for an answer he said, blushing: When she kissed me, she came near to strangling me from the force of the pressure!
But the shortest marriage that ever took place was that of "Mary Martin" of "Oklahoma": the civil official who performed the marriage wrote out the request for annulment after only five minutes — because Mary Martin, at the wedding party, was asked for on the telephone by a soldier!...
From al-Sayyad
severe headache.
In most cases of the headache of poisoning the cause shows itself plainly, and the best way to do away with the headache is to remove the malady. There is another kind of headache whose cause is high blood pressure; it strikes a person in the evening after taking food. Severer still is the headache arising from low blood pressure, which increases with exhaustion and lessens with rest.
Nor should we forget that noise and din, seasickness, mental agitation, sunstroke, and sitting close to the white screen all lead to pain in the head.
The headache of half the head
Migraine — the headache of half the head — is a kind unto itself, confined to pain in one half of the head only, and reaching such severity that the sufferer can find rest only in a darkened room. This kind of headache returns to a person from time to time without apparent cause, and is often preceded by a disturbance of vision accompanied by vomiting. It is a painful disease against which taking aspirin tablets or headache powder is of no use. The effective remedy for it is what is known as the drug ergot, a poison that must not be taken except from the doctor.
The best way to treat a headache is for a person to take two aspirin tablets and rest in a quiet room. If the cause of the headache arises from disturbances of the stomach, the sufferer should take a dose of salts. But when the headache recurs, it may have a simple cause; a severe headache, however, should be attended to and taken into account, for it may be the herald of a dangerous disease.