Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-08-16
SILENT PARTNERS.
BY E. A. BOYDEN.

! From Harper's Bazaar
Don't you ever speak to me again, ;" said Mrs.
| Benton. land l will never speak to you from
| this hour on"
| There was something positively alarming In
! this united command and promise, as the tones
in which it was uttered were impressively earn
| est, and the manner Of the speaker was very far
| from trifilng; and they fell upon the startled
ears of her worse half in way that caused Mr..
| Benton to quail little, for he knew enough of
| the temperament of the angered woman who
| spoke to feel that this was no idle threat.
John Benton and his wife Mary had been mar
ried nearly quarter Of a century at the time of
this violent outbreak, and had hitherto been ac-
tive and laxative matrimonial partners. They
lived In the country upon their own little farm.
and though they had not always held the most
absolute harmony Of opinion their devotion to
each other and their unity upon all the essential
matters of life were undisputed. 1t was only in
the infntesimal objects of life that they clash
ed. They had, together, met and surmounted
great obstacles in their common path. but they
removed rocks only to stumble over a pebble.
They had, united hewn their way through an
almost interminable forest Of difficulties to be
stopped in their onward career by some ins0-
nifcant bramble of contention. They had safely
stemmed the floods of adversely, yet were occa-
siOnally almost overcome by some petty stream
OF wrangling that flowed from the lips of either.
And finally the contemplate little rvulets that
had been constantly trickling for so many years
in so many different ways had seemingly met to
form a great vortex in which they were doomed
to be swallowed up. Those hitherto active and
voluble tongues were about to rust in idleness,
at least at home. They We're resolved to become
hencefOrth Silent Partners.
John Benton accepted the situation without
replying. for what was there to be said? Had he
not been commanded to refrain forever from
speaking to his wife?
Calamity forbids US to cast any great share Of
the Odum OF this scene upon Mrs. Benton. Be-
sides, had not John, Just before the last volcanic
eruption OF speech upon the part OF his wife. in
situated that her ''unruly member was as long
as fence rail?" Could female flesh and blood
endure such base smile as this when applied
to herself? And had he not asserted that her
words were legion, and that her tones were
thunder? Should a wife pass over such insult
ing personal metaphors as these? Mrs. Benton
either wisely or unWisely decided in the mega
tive.
The first night of the self-enforced silence In
the Benton cottage was awkward. The usual
curtain lecture was omitted, and such DEATH
like, desOate stiffness prevailed that sleep was
ont of the question. About midnight the awful
silence had so worked upon the nerves of John
Benton that unable to endure it longer, he
arose and going downstairs, soon returned
with the old clock. which was not only loud
ticker, but also cheerful striker. He must
nave soHltluiHo iOI COIUpdDy tldt WOulu appear
to his sense of hearing. or perish with loneliness
John started and stopped as he was about to
place this new companion upon the bureau;
he thought he heard sound proceed from
under the bed-coverlngs not unlike q
smothered laugh. But his Imagination had
to supply the place of his senses as no
explanation could be asked The clock, though
feeble and imperfect substitute for the human
voice. was better by far than the absence of all
sounds, and he fell asleep. The morrow brought
har in nln
and annoying succession. Mrs. Benton, finding
the situation too irksome to be borne without
some new excitement to replace the lost art of
speech, determined upon a revolution Of the
whole household-the grand satety-yalve for the
pent-up feelings Of housewife. and one of the
best-known remedies for the disease of hypo-
chOndria or anger. She went about this hercu-
lean task as though life and death hung in the
balance, or as though upon its completion de-
pended the casting out OF the dumb devils that
had taken up their abode here.
John Benton, coming in about noon from the
Held saw at once that something unusual was
under way. He knew that his wife was lust
then out at the barn. so he crept up stairs to as
certain the nature Of the operations. There was
o scene of chaos indeed. 1t would seem as
though this energetic woman lad decided, con-
trary to her usual wisdom, to begin at every
room in the house at once
And it certainly looked as though order could
not De restored to even one OF these wrecked
apartments by sunset. Now John was always
kind-hearted man. and noticing the carpets
rolled up, it occurred to him that here was
clear case in which he could antcipate the
wishes of his poor tired, tongue-ted wife. With
him to think was to act. so out went the carnets
upon the lawn but scarcely had he finished his
task before he heard his wife Juggling and pant
ing on the stairs, trying to get the carpets into
the house again. and back into their respective
rooms He had evidently been mistaken. and
lie fastened to make amends by restoring the
carpets to their former places; then. from fear
OF doing more harm than good, he stood aside
and allowed destiny to take its course. The
iabors of the day pressed heavily upon Mrs.
BrentOn, and toward its Close she essayed the
dumb language of pantomime to obtain from
her husband some help in getting q room ready
Tor occupancy before bedtime But either Johns
perception Of this language was somewhat OBJ
fuse. or else Mrs BentonS manner of using il
was imperfect. for she was compelled to aban-
don IL as useless. after going through MANY fan
taStic cOntOrtiOnS of her body. aud many facial
expressions that filed John with astonishment
She at last wound up with q look of disgust so
full Of meaning that the poor fellow thought he
read in it plainly enough, Il should think any fool
could understand that" But John was not the
fool TO comprehend it, so pantOmime had to be
given up.
Many ludicrous blunders were the inevitable
consequence Of this abandonment of the CUSTOM
arg mode of conveying thoughts, the double or
deFs gwen 10 the grOceryman and the butcher
the duplicate purchases of all sorts of odds and
ends, led TO much confusion and veXation in the
Benton household.
One morning John Benton thought he detected
unusual preparations going on i'm the culinary
department. grand overhauling and busting of
the best china set. and sundry other indications
of some unusual event. Mrs Benton tried in
her dumb-show manner to refresh his memory in
regard to an expected visit of which he had been
previously made aware. but which had Slipped
from his somewhat defective memory. But she
could not tell whether or not she had succeeded
in her efforts to enlighten him. About noon
John came in, as usual, to dinner, to find q ROOM
ful OF city visitors, friends OF Mrs. Benton. Now
john although not vain man, would rather
have had some notification of the event so that
he need not have appeared in their presence in
his working gar ments but as there was now no
help for it, he tried to make the best of the sit
uation. and greeted the visitors in rather an
awkward fashion. The latter no doubt. attrib-
uted Mrs. BentOn's silence toward her husband
TO modification ut his personal appearance
But, after all. this affair passed without the ex-
posture so much dreaded by both parties
John Benton had promised his wife, previous
to the unhappy occurrence that had placed this
gulf Of silence between Them money to pur-
Chase new dress for herself One day he laid
roll Of bills upon the table. and called her
attention to it, She nodded assent, and John
was satisfied that her memory was good for
ANYTHING that related to her persona, adornment
But what was his surprise and disgust when she
! returned from town and gave him the grocer's
reccipted bill,
One morning, upon Johns return from the city,
I I'D