Man and Wife Keep Up Mum Game Fifty Years.
Fifty-two years married and fifty years gone by without speaking to each other.
This is the remarkable record of a South Westport, Mass., couple, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wing. Outside of their neighbors, who have known of the estrangement for years, but have carefully refrained from mentioning it, the unique conversational separation of the old people did not become known to the world at large until their home was destroyed by fire.
Few people know the cause of the gulf between the two, and they treasure their secret. It began shortly after their marriage, half a century ago. Both have endured the situation and both apparently have lived happy, contented, and useful lives. Their only conversation during that long span of time has been carried on through the medium of a third person.
Mr. Wing is a farmer, eighty-eight years old, while his wife is sixty-nine. Until their farmhouse burned down, Mrs. Wing lived in the house, while Mr. Wing lived in a sort of shanty which he styled his “den.” He has been living in the den since, and Mrs. Wing has gone to live with her son, whose residence is a short distance away.