The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-02-06
BROKE HIS CRUEL VOW
Spoke to Devoted Wife After Twenty
= five Years of Silence.
WAS IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH

William 81. Jerolamoa and His Wife Quar-
relied Over a Trile a Quarter of a Cen.
tury Aso-Neyer Spoke to Her Until
on Deathbed-She Forgave Him Ere
He Breathed His Last.
Morristown, \. with the buria!
of William H. Jerolamon in the little
cemetery at Mt. Arlington ended life
story that made him and his wife
talked of the county wide. For quar-
ter of a century Jerolamon never spoke
to his wife.
"I'll never speak to you as long as
| live. swear it," was his VOW one day
far back in the seventies. when he and
his wife quarreled over mere trif1e.
/ He was fifty-eight years old then.
| He kept his VOW until death was COM
I ing and lived on, utterly ignoring the
wife who had shared his joys and sor-
rows so many years. He led the same
| life as in the past in the pretty Mt.
Warrington home in Norris County. but
/ Is was as If Mrs. JerolamCn aau nev-
er lived, so far as it concerned the old
.nan.
Devoted and faithful as ever. she
frequently attempted to get him to
break his self-imposed silence. She
cooked for him, served meals daintily.
tried in every possible way to please
him, but all in vain. He dined alone
and in silence. Often Mrs. Jerolamou
had to speak to her husband on af.
| fairs Of the household, but never by
word or gesture did he Intimate that
such a person as his wife existed. As
the years went by he prospered. His
place became noted for its small fruits
and vegetables. No one could excel
his products. He did everything, how.
ever, by rules vigorously inforced.
These rules he carried TO his home
life and his life in the community.
/ Once Jerolamon was steady church
Enember. He was one Of the organic
ers of the Arlington Methodist Ep,s.
copal Church, and he became a trustee.
Away back in 1874 the little town
went wild on prohibition. Tile old
man tried to get the church members
to indorse the cold water ticket ut tie
town election, but they refused ahso.
1utely. He spoke his opinion freely. ;
"Ill never go into this church again.
or any otherr' he declared. and he kept
his word. He lived on, eating his
meals in his solitary corner, while his
wifes heart was slowly breaking. His
daily tasks Were performed as usual
and with clocklike regularity. Rarely
did the advent Of stranger break in
ON the households quiet. The old man
hoar.led his money. and made his will.
which he put in the care Of Judge NJ.
M. Forest, together with his papers
and bank books. The other day he
was unable to arise. Pneumonia haG
laid it's grip upon the maE. now near
ly eighty years old. Weaker and weak
er he grew. Suddenly great lump
rose in his throat. He essayed to
speak.
MY dear he aaspeG, calling out to
his faithful wife Of q lifetime. I'm
sorry. Will you forgive the past:'
i, Forgive the past! Of course she
would, only too gladly. and th"re hy
the bedside of her dying husband Mrs.
Jerolamon wept softly that reconcilia'
ton had come at last.
5 Then he fell asleep. When he awoke
his wife was still there. But so was
the shadow of death. All that day and
the next it hovered near, and then it
claimed the old man. while his widow.
happy once again in his confidence for
q few neeting days, swoened away. Fle
was buried in the little churchyard IL;
Mt Arlinpton