SILENT HUSBAND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 198, 25 September 1909, Page 4

SILENT HUSBAND.

NEVER SPOKE TO ANYONE FOR FOUR YEARS. HIS WIFE OBTAINS A DIVORCE. la the opinion of the Official Refer.'.' of New Park, New Jersey, silence on the part of a husband, when prolonged over a period of vears, or when occu.~ng & unduly large slabs over comparatively small periods, is juat as mirh a...*l cruelty to a wife as to neglect to provide her with clothes and food, lie therefore granted Mrs. Blickensdorf = petition for divorce. Her husband, silent to the bitter end (says'' the Daily Mail's New York corrtsponilent), merely sent a friend to corrt to say that he had nothing to add to what he had said to his wife before their marriage, and, further, that Mr?. Blickensdorf had more than enough 'o sav for two people, and, finally, tint .Mrs. Blickensdorf's persistent loquacily was just aa galling as prolonged silent". A stream of witnesses swore he fee the r eferce that Mr. Blickensdorf maintained a sphinx-like, wooden, impenetrable silence ever since four years ago, when ho mumbled response at his wc Iding. For four years Mrs. Blickensdoi-f tried by every artifice known to wonnn to make her husband talk, but in h;-r testimony before the referee she ■.,!- mitted that she failed. SILENCE UNDER TORMENT.

. At first she squeezed his hand and chucked hini'uader his chin, but the only response she got was a stony stave, j Then she burnt the soup, put salt in his' coffee, and finally she tried putting tta tacks on his chair. All in vain; still !.e was speechless. Several neighbors testified they had not heard him say a word in six or seven year» "We even took him to fireworks one night to see if he would say 'Ah!'" said one witness, "but wc couldn't get him to open up. He is th? most careful man in the world with hfe talk. It is worse for a man to be aDlc to talk and to be always silent than to be dumb" "Yes, indeed," ejaculated Mrs. Blickensdorf, weeping before the jury. "In summer," she continued, "he sat in tlv yard ail day and long into the night, silent aa a wooden man. And in winter he kept close to the stove, and burned the wood and coal she carried in, but said never a word. Previous to ma--riage my husband talked fluently, bu'. was never what you would call a born talker."

THE BRIDE'S ASTONISHMENT, The Blickensdorfs were married in 1905. At the wedding breakfast M' Blickensdorf, after murmuring what was taken for an apology, hurried oft to work. When he came back in the evening his wife met him at the door with an affectionate smile. Blickensdorf returned the smile, and hurried iato th • house, where he sat down. Mr. Blickensdorf started conversation with a remark about the weather. From, this she led to the question of what he would like f°r dinner, but got no answer to any of her observations. At last she wept,"but even tsars failed to melt her husband's silence or abate his stonystare. Becoming desperate at the silence which pervaded her home, Mr*. Blickensdorf admitted to the referee that she had not cared very much of late what her husband would say when he finally did consent to open his mouth.

.When important matters came up for consideration he would sometimes condescend to shake his head and indicate his opinion ia that way. Once, and it was a red letter day for Mrs. Blickensdorf, he moved his lips, as if about to say something, but, evidently changing hit mind, closed his lips again.

And so an end came to Mrs. Blickensdorf's endurance, and the referee has now given her the chance of finding a more loquacious helpmate.