Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-09-08
QUILL'S YARN.
He Gets Interview On Very
Strange Case.
Though Man and Wife They Did
Not Speak.
The Reason Was Plain Only He Did
Not See 1t.


living is problem that has puzzled
wiser heads than mine and the worst
OF it all is that it is still puzzling
them. These people are simply in the
Way for others to bump into
The man whom have in mind in
particular belongs to the class and
ought to be cast adrift in a leaky boat
without oars on the boisterous sea.
For he worked off the most bilious
story on me that it has been my mis-
fortune to listen to for years. Every
man has story to tell if you only hit
him right. This fellow was loaded for
big game. He just laid for me and
was like the boy who points the gun
at his little sister. / didn't know it
was loaded. He evidently took ad-
vantage of my youth and proceeded
with malice aforethought to fill me up
"a sort of u literary intoXication-and
he succeeded beyond his fondest .ex-
pectations, for l swallowed the whole
thing. hook. line and sinker and
reached for the boy.
/ met this precarious cherub in my
daily wanderings and indirectly asked
him for news. 1 got it all right. 7
don't want any more. Enough is rs
good as q feast. The next time he has
any ancient history that he wants to
eradicate from his system l hope he
will pause, hold his breath for some Is
minutes or longer and count 50 before
he answers. That will give me ample
time 20 put several furlongs of good
green turf between us.
When l approached him he seemed
so childlike and bland, like the almond
eyed celestial who is so peculiar, that
1 was really struck with the cUss and
thought / had discovered the fountain
head of knowledge. 1 wandered at
the time why some enterprising news
paper man with thirst for knowledge
and a nose for news had overlooked
this prodigy and left him for me to
pump. | wonder no longer. Their
bumps of wisdom We're well developed
while mine was but pimple. They
read the sign like BelshaZZar's hand
writing on the wall and interpreted il
as. Look out for the engine while the
bell rings" 1 thought it said, walk
on the track when the cars are COM
ing" SO l walked. He, that is, the
cherub. was diligently watching a fly
when l Joined the group and his face
reminded me of one of those lard
cherubs one sees in a grocery Win
dow, so calm and serene. He took in
my measure as l approached and
when he thought 1 was ripe enough for
the reapers' sickle, he turned to me
and said:
Speaking of news do you know
ran across n very peculiar case the
7 n har l1U oylyo hIn
ever saw. There is family up in the
northern part of the town who have
been married for some 20 years or 50,
have a nice pleasant little home; no
brown stone front with statuary in the
front yard but just a cosy little home
in a good locality surrounded by green
fields and good neighbOrs.
ITO all appearances they are one of
the happiest couples in town. The nus
band is an honest, hard-working man
who believes in the full dinner-pail
and all that sort of thing and the wife
is one of the neatest housekeepers in
the world. The house is just like
wax. She works and scrubs all the
time and tries her utmost to make
home what it should be, home i'll
every sense of the world. She is not
extravagant in dress, always looks
neat and tidy and the neighbors refer
to them as being four handed. They
haven't any family-just those two
and they apparently have everything
to make them happy. That is, as Ear
as earthly goods go.
"They have, as l say, been married
some 20 years or more and Cor the past
five years they have not spoken to
each other. 1t looks funny to see them
sitting down for an evening, she on one
side of the table with her work and he
on the other with his paper, and sit all
through the long evenings without a
word between them. When he gets
tired he lays the paper down, locks up
the house and takes his lamp and goes
up stairs to bed. She does the same,
day after day and night after night
Sometimes the neighbOrs come in for
ar evening. They can't help noticing
it but they have got used to it now and
don't make any comments. In the
morning he goes TO his work while she
busies herself around the house. Some
of the neighbors have attempted to
get them to talk but without success.
He treats her with the utmost courtesy
as far as outward appearances go. He
provides literally for the house and
now and then brings home some little
trihe that he knows his wife is fond
of. but tha. does not change the
situation a bit. They are just as far
from speaking as they were years
ago, in fact, more so. 1t is a case
where time, the great CONSIDER, does
not make any change. l presume
there are hundreds of similar cases in
this great round world of ours only
this one is in our midst and one no
tees it more"
/ listened to this mysterious story so
graphically. told, fun of pathos and
sadness and could almost imagine
myself sitting around that table and
seeing this once loving couple now 50
strangely situated living together as
man and wife yet not speaking. 1
could hardly imagine such strange
case and found mystelf wondering
how the poor man felt after he had
been detained at political meeting or
at the office and came home in the
small hours of the morning with
billiard chalk on his coat and not have
his wife meet him at the door with
l@w nau