The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-10-25
CAT AS Go BETWEEN.
STEWARDS HAVEN'T EXCHANGED A
WORD IN EIGHTEEN YEARS.
They Cannot Agree on Reiigion-The Wife
lisa Devout Methodist. but the Husband
Is an Atheist-rhey Have Never Quar-
relied.

Is a Devout Methodist. but the Husband
Is an Atheist-They Have Never Quar-
relied.
There was a rumor around Matawan
n. j., recently that old John Stewart
and his wife had broken a silence of Is
years between them and were once
more speaking one 70 the other.
Mrs. Stewart has borne a very heavy
cross for many years, and no one has
ever heard her complain
She is devout Methodist. Her hus-
band, 10 whom she has been married SO
years, Is an atheist. For love of this
man, whose views are so radically diff
ferent from her own she has contin-
ned TO live and work that he might
have a home but for Is years they
have not exchanged a word.
All this time the two have lived in a
tiny house where they were constantly
thrown together, and yet each has car.
ried on separate existence.
The Stewards live about three miles
west OF Matawan. ON the road leading
TO Oldoridge. They have farm of ~
acres, and this they have cultivated so
carefully that. with the observance of
much frugality. they have saved some
money.
The wife is little, old. yellow and
shriveled. She was reared in the Meth.
odist church, and when at 81 years of
age she was married 10 John Stewart
he, too, was God fearing mana pill.
lar in the Methodist church.
For many years they lived as happi.
ly as any man and wife could live, and
then the serpent entered their paradise.
IL came in the form of the doctrines of
anarchy, which the husband began to
study. He became an enemy of law and
order and loved to argue ON the points
OF his new belief Then he read Vol |
taire and other writers opposed to the |
Christian religion, and next he was an |
atheist.
These departures into so called ad- |
vanced thought were a great sorrow to
his devout helpmeet, and gently did
she try TO win him back TO the belief in
which he had been born and bred. The
husband resented these pleadings as the
interference of the weak with the strong
and thoughtful.
At first he would not listen. Then he
argued, and finally he became angry
The woman wavered long between love
and religious duty. Then she saw that
her efforts TO reclaim the backslider
would be fruitless. He was hard head
ed man. No one had ever been able TO
lead him from an opinion once he made
it his own
The wife feared that her husband
would cease to love her if she continued
to play the missionary She was afraid
that he might leave her in obedience to
one of his creeds.
so she made compact with him.
They were never TO speak again. There ,
could then be no quarrels about any,
thing he agreed, glad, he said, to be
exempted from what he called her nag.
ying. /,
That was more than Is years ago.
md as yet they have not exchanged a ,,
word The story that the embargo had :
been raised proved not true Mrs. Stew
Irt told a reporter recently that there
vas no change IN their relations. ,
IL was true, the old woman admitted,
hat cat had been their Intermediary
III the years Of silence. Not the same :
at all the time, she said. for cats
would come and go, but they had al.
ways had one cat or another to act as /
he 60 between. = =
Ii meal was ready, the wife told :.
he cat. The husband heard the mes.
age and sat at the table If the man
wanted anything at the table, he made +
Is wishes known to the cat. =
And so 1T was day in and day out :.
trough all the years, no matter what 4
ne occasion might be- There has never =
cen a quarrel. The farm belongs to :, =
le wife.
Yes" said she yesterday, 81 cook 81
nd wash for him. Why should l let him =,
lffer just because he has gone astray? 9
will always care for him and he will -
ave a home as long as l live. He be. =
ewes he will die and that will be the =
I'D, the same as if he was a beast. o o
1t is awful to think of, but he will -
ot change | thank heaven that we :"
ave never had any children. | should VI
'obably not have been able to guide y
lem Alright. Very few children are =.
'operly raised New York World. 7,