The Washington times., 1919-12-21

Loire Hill and her husband, who
passed three and one-hAlf years under
the same roof with only two brief In
terchanges of speech, have started on
their second stretch of silent exist
ence.
The Judge, before whom their d.
vorce suit was tried. dismissed the
separation. At the same time there
was No reconciliation. The Judge de-
scribed the case Is the most remark
able one since the seventeenth century.
According to q notebook kept by
Mrs. Hill during the period, her hus-
band spoke to her twice in the three
and one-half years.
Z~ppAs Raid Cs1sed ReHark-
Once was when everybody rushed
remained out longer than he did and
heard him remark:
81 think X you were q wise woman
you would come inside"
She was so surprised by this break
ing down Of verbal barriers that she
Gid not reply.
At the end Of the three and one
half years. che writes. ~The silence
breaks with a short. sharp period Of
angry words-terrible moments these,
! worse than the silence ITSELF
Extracts From Her Nstebssk.
Extracts from Mrs. Hills amazing
notebook revelations in the Weekly
Dispatch follow:
Having decided to Hive and having
locked away my veronal tablets I de-
eide also to make the best Of things.
1t is not too easy. this. Inwardly I
know that am not succeeding. With
q majority Of wives home IL every
Ithing-when happiness within our
four walls IL wrecked. little remains
for q woman to make the best Of. All
she can do Is to make the best Of
herself
"Here I am faced with the most
terrible struggle any woman can be
called upon to make-civil war. In
these conflicts a woman can only save
herself by killing part Of herself
often the finest part-her tenderness,
her womanly sensibilities-love: but
l am q proud woman; why should I
give in? Come what may III make
. good fight for it
Sttastiss Net Awkward.
"How surprised I should be II my
! husband spoke to me-if he did, ]
believe I should be momentarily
struck dumb. For months and months
now he has not spoken q word to
me. Meanwhile my sheaf Of notes
grows and grows. L keep them all
my marriage lines.
"One thing 1 notice with :uch
surprise-the awkwardness of the
situation is wearing Off. A year ago
I L would not have believed IL possible
| that home could be carried on in
such a condition-surely IL would run
down like an unwound clock.
Guilty OF EavesAropp.nE.
| put &c hama
( to all appearances ticking away as
usual-a stranger could detect moth
ling wrong. Outside in the kitchen
I hear my husband giving his orders
| to the maid; he wants this done and
this; he says nothing to me. But
| things get done all the same. Really
! it takes terrific blow to stop 4 home.
Il have been guilty Of caves
dropping. ] do not defend myself.
but I suppose that the continual
strain of this silence rendered me
desperate 1t seems nowadays that
II know nothing about my husband
nothing of his doings. He is grad
ually closing up before me, becom-
ing an inscrutable mystery man.
, What does he do What is he think
| ing OF? What are his intentions?
What is he going to do about me?
Living with A Sphinx.
1T is intolerable, living like this,
! day after day, week after week, with
/, a sphinx, sleeping night after night
by the side of this silent man who
begin to think begrudes ne the very
sound Of his breathing. ] begin to
feel myself like ice, petrihed. uncanny.
The whole affair is running my nerves.;
feel like child shut up in a dark
room. I begin to imagine there are
| I n n
gigantic riddle.
We'll, tonight at least, | have
| forced my way into his veiled life.
+, This evening a strange man knocked
at our door and asked to see my
husband. They went together into
! the dining room and l heard the
key turn in the lock. That little
noise affected me disagreeably.
Overwhelming Indignation surged up
| within me. l cried. but my eyes
| were dry.
Hears Them Talk.
| 'T hurried into the kitchen and
! picked up thin glass tumbier.
! Quickly ! went back into the room
| adjoining the dining room. from
whence proceeded, very indistinctly.
! a murmur Of voices. Placing the bot
| tom of the tumbler against the sep
arating wall l put my ear to its
mouth and listened. The murmur
became distinct could follow my
! husbands voice and the strangers.
They were talking about flowers for
| the garden.
| Women friends have advised me
. to leave him. 1t is easy for theorists
to advise, and women, in consider
! ing the matrimonial troubles Of
! others, are great theorists. have
: been one myself But when the blow
falls on ones own head, how differ
cnt.
Feels II Is Right To Remnin.
, 'T cannot face the possibility Of
leaving my home for the present, at
any rate. Not because J lack moral
, courage, but because l feel the right
! thing for me to do is TO stay for the
present. 1t is the hardest thing. too.
Still i am no coward. Twenty-seven
/ years of my heart and soul have been
sunk in its welfare; twenty-eeven
years of my youth and middle age. L
| do not see how a woman can posi-
bly, relinuuish all that this means in
| a moment"