The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-10-02
Sixteen Years Of Silence.

A curious story comes from st. Louis,
and one which is worth repeating if only
for the instructive lesson which it teaches
of human folly, self-will and unhoppiness.
Sixteen years ago gentlemen of St
Louis, man of wealth and position, who
had once been Mayor of the city, had q
dispute with his wife. Up to that time
the married life of the two had been happy
and harmonious. On this fatal day, how
ever, the husband asked the wife to afix
her signature to conveyance of certain
property of which he had made an ad-
vantageous sale. She refused to sign for
some reason which she fully stated, and
which il said to, have been connected
with her anxiety to protect the interests
of a much loved son. The husband
sought by every means of persuasion and
importantly to change her determination,
but to no purpose. He was stubborn
and resolute man, and fully bent upon
accomplishing his end. At last his
temper got the better of his discretion
and his love, and he solemly swore that
unless within given time his wife signed
that deed he would never speak to her
again on earth. 1t was a. terrible oath,
for he loved his wife fondly, but he
meant to keep it. Unfortunately, the
wife also was possessed of strong will
and an obstinate temper, and she declared
that she would not be driven into doing
what her judgment disappoved. If her
refusal was to be punished by such con.
sequences, so be it! She would be as
silent as he. The husband waited until
the fatal time had passed, and then he
deliberately sealed his lips against the
companion of his life. They did not
separate; they were both too proud, too
Just, and too considerate of their chill
drens' interest for that; but they never
spoke to each other. They lived in sep
arate chambers, but they sat at the same
table and trated each other with all out
ward demonstrations of respect. When
circumstances made communication be-
tween them absolutely necessary, they
addressed each other through the medium
of their daughter, and she spoke for both.
So the years went on. Over that home,
rich and prosperous in worldly goods,
cloud brooded forever. The daughter
used all her influence to effect recon-
ciliation, but her efforts were unavailing.
And now in the remorseless irony of
life, pitiful result followed. The boy
in whose interest the signature had been
refused grew tired of the gloom which
prevaded his home, and at last he ran
away and disappeared. 1t was never
known what became of him, but there
were reasons for believing that he filed
one of the nameless graves of the civil
war. Still the stern estrangement went
on. The daughter grew to womanhood,
and lover sought her hand. She refused
to leave her father and mother, or to
give up and abandon her sacred Office of
mediator between those unhappily parted
spirits. At last her lover agreed to live
in the family mansion, and they were
married. But terrible issue was at
hand, and few days ago the young wife
died very suddenly of a congestive chill.
And so the last link that bound the
strangely arsorted household together
was snapped, and upon the aged couple
desolation worse than death desceded
with all the crushing weigh of retri-
tbuion.
The story goes on to say that on i'm
mense cortege followed the body to the
grave, for the strange history in which
the dead woman had figured was well
known, and many friends mourned over
her tomb. But to the father and mother,
whose hearts no grief could soften,
and whose obduracy no lapse of time
could overcome, what help could sympa-
thy afford They had made their own
fate, and must abide the issue. Death
has robbed them of all they had to live
for, but Life still claims them, and will
not let them 60. What more terrible
pictures could be painted of human folly
and the desolation which can be worked
by the evil passions of an obstinate
heart?