The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-12-14
HER LONG SILENCE.

Allan Davis loved LuelIa CLARK, who
was a nagger. He saw evidence of her tenn
per as displayed upon her father. But he
loved her, and that was enough. He mar
ried her.
I know this is not pleasant story, and
readers need go no further unless they are
interested in a curious psychological fact.
myself am believer in heredity. am
sure that somewhere in the past this wom-
an had an ancestor with sharp tongue,
which she had never tried to bride. If
there is sympathy for the man who in
herits a consuming thirst for drink, why
not for the woman who has had bequeath-
ed to her q bad temper, which she took
with her hair and eyes?
Luella had everything to make her hap
py, from the standpoint of any reasonable
being but she never ceased complaining,
and at last the good nature and fortitude
of her husband deserted him and he turn
ed, not as the worm turns, but rather like
a raging lion, and Luella held her peace in
sheer establishment.
81 wish you were dumb" he said in
voice of concentrated wrath and scorn. 81
wish I might never hear the sound of your
voice again"
Like all evenly balanced natures, when
he overstepped boundaries, he went too
far, but there was this in extenuation, his
words came from the lips and not from
the heart, they sounded far worse than
they intentioned and they recoiled on
himself, even before he had seized his hat
to leave the house. He turned to see their
effect on Luella and found, to his horror,
that she had tainted.
Then he called himself a brute, sent for
friends and a doctor and hung over his
wife, PROSTATE with grief and remorse I'M
til she opened her eyes and recognized him.
He begged her forgiveness, but to all
her entreaties she only shook her head fee
bly,, until at last, when he pleaded for one
word, she made a motion which indicated
a wish to write, and, with a horrible fear
taking possession of him, he gave her pa
per and pencil, and this is what she wrote:
"YOu have your wish. You will never
hear my voice again. am stricken dumb"
1t was noised about in the community,
and people talked-old people especially
of what they called "a visitation of Cod
The doctors had another name for it.
They called it acute paralysis, and said it
was reflex, and would pass off presently,
but they were wrong in their prognostica-
tions Luella went about her work again
the light household duties which devolved
upon her-but no word came from her
mute lips Allan, who was beside himself
with grief and disappointment, urged her
to learn the labial language, indeed offered
to forego speech for her sake and learn the
lessons of silence with her, but she would
not listen to the suggestion. And then be-
gan the martyrdom of Allan Davis.
Luella could hear perfectly, so that her
husband and friends were not constrained
in their speech, but any word she had to
say, any message OF answer in their con-
versation coming from her, must be writ
ten. She was always provided with the
means Of communication, and writing
tablets of the daintiest sort were scattered
around the house like some new brio brac
of speech.
The devotion of Allan Davis to his af-
hicted wife was something marvellous. He
never wearied of loverlike attentions and
he never demanded the slightest recogni-
ton of them. He spent every hour of his
existence not employed i'll his business in
devising pleasures for Luella, and on those
unfortunate days when a dumb devil of
ill nature asserted itself he met her mute
reproaches with self abasement that was
neither unmanly nor servile, but Christ
like. His bonny brown locks turned gray,
his laughing, boyish face took on the shad-
ows of early age, but his spirit remained
serene and patient, and the love he held
in his heart for this woman grew brighter
and more fervent toward the end. And the
end came before the fire of youth had quite
turned to ashes-the end for Allan Davis.
1t was a simple case of influenza at first,
with no suggestion Of danger, until one
day the doctor looked grave, and the next
he said to Luel1a, Your husband will
dep
He watched her sharply, but no culver
of an eyelid told him what he wanted to
know. She wrote a question on her tablet:
Chow soon?'
CAT any time-tonight perhaps - an
swered the doctor, and again he watched
her narrowly. Did he surprise flash of
joy in her cold eyes, strange tense draw
ing of the lines around her severe mouth?
1t might have been his Imagination but
at any rate he was glad for Allan Davis.
The end came at night, when Luella
watched with her husband alone. He had
been sleeping and dreamed something that
awakened him with a wild start and
made all things look unreal-all except
his wife, who bent over him with new
solicitude in her face. He saw it and was
grateful.
81 am going to leave you, DEAR he
said in the slow, precise tones of those
who are nearly done with human speech.
''Will you not let me take with me my
last glad heritage word of forgiveness
for the great wrong did?''
Luella looked at him, and an unmistak-
able CLEAN of triumph shone in her eyes
anu o4pr6SSeu 1bSeII III nef movements DIS
she seized her tablet and wrote something
upon it in plain, distinct letters. Allan
saw the look, and the hope that had sus-
tanned him so many years seemed now
about to be realized, and he lifted his head
eagerly to read for the last time that be-
loved handwriting.
But God, more mercifu1 than his crea-
ture, had anointed his eyes with film.
and with the written words he so longed
to see held before him by an unfaltering
hand he Ioosed his hold on earthly love
and hate and despoiled the last sting of a
terrible revenge.
For this was what Luella had written
for her dying husband to read:
Since you are about to die 1 will tell
you that l have never for one moment
been incapable of speech. Iassumed a mis-
fortune to punish you as you deserved. !
have succeeded. Detroit Free Press.