The Virginia Enterprise

Life Was Too Tame.
Husband Deserted Because He Wouldn't Quarrel.

Wife Finds Life Intolerable with Man Who Gives Her Everything She Asks For and Accepts Her Views Without Question.

From Kansas City, Mo., a correspondent writes to the Chicago Tribune that because her husband acquiesced in everything she suggested and would never argue with her, Mrs. Jessie Bryning, of Kansas City, Mo., left her home and refused to return. She told a neighbor that there was not enough excitement, and that she could not endure the tame life which she had to lead with her husband.

These facts came out in the trial of the divorce suit which Howard Bryning, her husband, brought in Judge Silver's court on the grounds of desertion. Mr. Bryning won his case, and Mrs. Bryning will now be spared the unpleasantness of a tame and uneventful married life. She is in Denver, where she proposes to make her home.

Mrs. Florence Hosford, a neighbor of the Brynings, testified at the trial that Mrs. Bryning had often remarked to her that Mr. Bryning had no "backbone," and that he never seemed to have any ideas of his own. "Whenever I ask him for anything he always gets it without a question," she said, "and there is no satisfaction in that kind of an existence for me. It makes no difference what kind of a request I make, it is always granted. He will never express an opinion contrary to mine, and if, for any reason, I happen to take issue with him on any question he will at once take my side of it and the argument will have to end.

"This may seem to you to be a poor excuse for my not wanting to stay with my husband," said Mrs. Bryning to Mrs. Hosford, "but the fact is that it is intolerable to me, and I shall have to have a change. I like argument. There is no enjoyment in getting everything without a struggle."

Mr. Bryning says that he had not thought that his wife objected to having her own way.

"I always considered her requests reasonable," said he, "and I never thought that she would ask or even suggest anything which she should not have. Accordingly I took it for granted that whatever she said or did was all right, and I never remonstrated with her. I do not believe that she ever asked anything of me that was not perfectly reasonable.

"As for myself, I do not enjoy arguments. During our courtship and throughout our married life I have had the greatest confidence in her and have allowed her really to run things. She seemed to enjoy it and I never felt that there was any call for interference on my part. It is possible that in my confidence in her I shirked some of the responsibilities that I should have taken, but everything seemed to be going so well that I did not give the matter a second thought.

"Now that Jessie has left me I really regret that I did not assert myself more, but I see my mistake too late to remedy it. I know that I could not assume a dictatorial air with her, and it seems that without such an attitude on my part she could not be happy. Taking everything into consideration, I think that the best thing for us is to be divorced and have no more to do with each other. I hesitated long about bringing the suit, but she refused to return to our home, and I could not promise to be more stern, although I knew then that my laxity was the cause of her leaving me."

Mr. Bryning is traveling passenger agent for the Northern Pacific railroad, with headquarters in Kansas City. His home is in one of the best resident districts in Troost avenue, and is well appointed. Mr. Bryning is about 35 years of age, and his former wife is 28 years old. They had been married five years.

Acquaintances of the Brynings often remarked that the match was an ideal one. Mrs. Bryning always seemed to be happy when with her husband, and he was devoted to her. His attentiveness was especially noticeable.

Judge Silver has been on the bench for 15 years and he says that the Bryning divorce suit was the most remarkable case that he ever had to deal with.