The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-02-11
ODD ESTRANGEMENT.
BARRIER or SILENCE BETWEEN A
HUSBAND AND WIFE.
Mr.. and Mrs. Hennig Occupy the Same
House. but Have Not spoken to Each
Other For twenty-five Yssrs-Evsn Their
Children DO Not Know the Cause.

Other For Twenty-Five Years-Even Their
Children DO Not Know the Cause.
Time has whitened the hair Of John and
Mary Hennig, couple living In Mount
Vernon, but 25 years have not served to
e.facc barrier which arose between the
pair in the early years OF their married
life They have gone on living under the
same roof, but further than that they are
as II no ties bound them together. And
the cause OF their long arrangement Is
SECRET which has never escaped the lips OF
the man or the woman.
In little stone church of a small village
in Germany the couple were married some
80 years ago They came TO America in
youth. their love strong and their hopes
high The couple settled in Mount Yer
non Hennig became boss carpenter, and
ten years after their arrival pretty, roomy
cottage was built on Locust avenue. Proud
ly the woman exercised her care and tastes
in choosing the furnishings. The night
that they moved in. with the two fine,
healthy boys who had come to them, the
world. which deals kindness out so mea-
gery, seemed to the Hennigs we'll disposed
toward them indeed.
Then there fell over the sunshine of this
home shadow which has never lifted.
John, the oldest boy, now a man of 30
years, remembers vaguely bleak night of
the winter long ago when his father did
not come to the evening meal, thing be
rarely failed to do, being methodical
man. The hours slipped away, and when
the boy was put to bed his father had not
yet come home When next he awoke, 1t
was to hear his mother scream, and peer
ing from his crib he saw his father stand
ing over her, clinched fist raised in
anger. The child's instinct prompted him
to leap from his bed and run between his
parents crying:
Mammal Papa! What's the matter?"
The mans face grew very white, and he
turned away. The woman caught the lad
in her arms and wept over his curly nead.
From that time the couple began their
present strange mode of living. Never,
after that night, did they speak word to
each other. Hennig fitted up a room in
the house and slept In it, His wife con-
tinued to prepare his meals for awhile but
they never sat at table together. Every
Saturday Hennig places an envelope on
the dining room mantelpiece addressed
formally, Mrs Hennig." 1t contains
money.
estrangement Hennig one day brought
workmen to the house and had a portion
of the wall of the kitchen torn away and a
second fireplace and chimney erected. A
second stove, a dining table, a set of china
ware and culinary articles were brought
in, and Hennig began cooking and pre-
pairing his meals. Thus the last attention
his wife paid him was gone.
nd hn hn ot
the pail of extreme silence that had fallen
on the home. but, becoming used to It,,
they ceased to wonder, and inquiry brought
no answer from father or mother. The
wife, of course, took care of the boys, but
sometimes when tho mother refused some
childish request they ran to their father,
asking him the coveted permission. To
such appeals he had but one answer:
"Your mother knows best.
1t was said gently, even sadly, hut the
children soon grew to know that the de.
cision was final.
The kitchen, dining room and his own
bedroom are the only apartments Hennig
| frequents. The remainder of the rooms
he leaves for his wife. Often they occupy
| the dining room together, but then she sits
always on the right in her rocker, with
| her workbaslSet at her side, while he is OPP
posite in his rocker, with his reading Ia
BILE, lamp, spectacles and newspapers.
| Even If tho other is absent neither ever
violates this tacit arrangement
The oldest son is married now, and his
brother, unable to live In the strained at
mosphere of his old home, resides with
| him The sons are neutral in their con-
! duct to their parents They call frequent
| ly. John talks to his mother, while George
| converses with the father After awhile
| they change places and thus remain until
| the end of their visit.
The cottage, so bright and pretty when
| the Hennigs first made 1t their home, has
| begun to show the signs of wear and now
looks dull and shambling. Some shingles
loosened and fell from the roof over Mrs.
| Honnigs room short time ago. This let
| the rain In and threatened the old WON
! ans health. Mrs. Hennig engaged a car.
| penter to repair the roof, but when the
| tradesman came Hennig met him in the
| yard and babe him be off il he valued a
| whole skull Twice afterward Mrs. Hen.
| mig sent carpenters to stop the leak but
each time Hennig drove them away.
| Mrs. Hennig sought her neghbors for
| advice on what to do. Her husbands con
duct was inexplcable, she thought. When
her friends suggested that perhaps he
wanted to force her into requesting him to
| allow the work to be done and thus break
the silence of so many years. she smiled,
but said simply:
| 81 will never speak to him."
Then she went to the board of health
bnt they told her they could not interfere.
She was directed to the police and told
that any carpenter she should send to her
home would DO protected by them while at
work. But she hesitated at calling in the
police, and one day while she was out Wis
iting the good housewives of Locust street
called each other to their porches to wit
ness old John Hennig atop of ladder,
| plying hammer and nails in repairing the
leak in the roof in his wifes side of the
house.
Silent as they are with each other, both
are genial and well liked by their neigh
bors. They visit their friends frequently
enjoying the discussion of the affairs OF
the neighborbood and other things Of in
terest They have sometimes met at the
house of mutual acquaintance, but II this
occurs Hennig always takes up his hat and
leaves.