Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1873-08-23
VOL. III. NO. z.

WIS passed. EtnlIe was naIlsisoIne DOy
as remember him, with long fair hair
eut straight across the forehead, but fall
ing in waves from his temples about his
shoulders. He was imaginative and in
doleut. hating any restraint, proud and
sensitive, -and-what even then struck
me as singular-whiie he would weep
over :. Paul and Virginia p" OF the boab-
les of the lost maislens In 4" Anadis de
Gaul," or when looking AT sunset or
listening at night to the wind rushing
through the old trees of the park, real
human misery affected him not at all.
Notwithstanding this he, was.
capable Of friendship. but, as ] have
since come to know, it was a friendship
which had its source in that sense of
weakness which purely intellectual aud
imaginative men feel when brought
into contact with stronger natures who
understand fealitfes-who live in and
for them, aud not in the wide yet un-
substantial realm of passions which have
10 objects, of thoughts which have No
actuaIities, and of feeling SO reclIrrent
npon themselves that they become at
last an intolerable burden, from which
escape must be had or the sufferer die.
A person Tins unfortunately constituted
has no notion of tlfese IDEAS OF Justice,
responsibility and thedike, which in the
last resort come from the consideration
of the relation which men bear to each
other and to which the ecidtaat egoisnae
Of the idealist prevents him from giving
legitimate weight In his thinking. He
is incapable of having that one steady
object in his soul which, whatever it
may be, will keep the soul steady. If
men are but phantoms what nothings
are their conventiona.ities! s4tt ss<A
Emile de Guresson was my most inti-
mate friend; towards me he showed
hardly any trace of sclfshness, and ieVen
when he diC, so it was but for mOmeut.
was stronger than he in every way,
even in intelligence, for lived an OBJ
jective existence, and my thoughts had
their basis in reality;I was stronger of
limb, active, fond of outdoor exercise.
of hunting, fishing, swimming, was an
excellent rider, and could at almost any
time entice Emile from his books and
thoughts out into the wild and beautiful
forests and rocks of our new home.
Although we had not known each other
until we met beneath M. Crassot's roof.
we loved each other when we met, per-
haps because we were counterparts, and
perhaps because of the love which for
ages had existed between our houses,
and had thus become n part of olr very
natures. That he had, in a certain way,
a great influence over me is not to be
doubted; il was in the half intellectual
and half sensuous realm of music and
poetry that we came in some sort to un-
derstlnd each other. The boy, with a
precociousness of passion which even
now cannot comprehend, wonld read
The " Radamiste ct Zenobie' 'jof VOltaire,
or " "Zaire," in such way that even j,
whose nature was cod, would burn with
a passion scarcely less than his; !; and in
the cold and dignified apotheosis of sem
timenL i'll sAtllalie,n orstlIe tragic patlIos
of 6. Rodogune,' would lie absorbed
for hours while Emile read OH with glow
ing cheek and kindling eye.
| l have given this slight analysis of
some points in Guresson's character in
order TO render comprehensible the way
in which dealt " it'll him in after years,
when this vicious ideality had grown to
such monstrous proportions that it stop
ped at nothing-not even at the murder
of the woman whom both he and. loved,
but whom L had relinquished to him,
dreading, even then, to think of what
would follow, for | knew the character
| of the man. 5l III -...@a. i.r4 81, 20 -,
| We remained in Brittany at the house
Of NJ. CrassOt until we. were twenty
years of age; meantime oHr .educatioii,
| so far as fnel of study and discipline were
concerned, had been utterly, neglected
Emile had studied much, and read every
thing which came into his hands, Nj
Crassot being indnlgent to him and
sending to Paris for every book the
young nlan,wished. His reading was ol
course desultory; now he would give
himself up to the study of metaphysics
and for weeks woul,l seem to think Oi
1 H. IL r.
in history Of language, and thus, st
great was his aptitude for this sort o
intellectual pursuits, he came to have
sufficient knowledge of nearly all the
European tongues to read, though, o
course, not to speak them. The rudi
ments of Latin and Greek he had learned
In Paris while living there with his par
ents; he studied all things, however, no
because he might need to,use his knowl
ledge, Dut because study was his natura
bent. He half learned so MANY incon
gruous things that he could not Sc,
their true relation, but as his mind wa
a logical one and needed some relaxation
his world of unsealities was OILY eX
tended by his theories, and being afgu
mentative he became a sophist, sOphis
ticating all things, not excepting him
self and the processes OF his own mind
scientis as a suggester of themes, h
would have made an excellent spiritna
adviser to those who should seek at hi
hands not correction but consolation
The older he grew the more confirme
became his habits of living in himself
until ut last, for his own sake as well a
my own, / proposed shat. we slieul
spend some years together in travel. w
were both wealthy, and, having mad
all preparations, we babe adieu to Brit
tany, and wandered together among. ne,
scenes-I filled with the joyous enthu
siasm of u, youth. on his first. travel,
and he, though sometimes appearing
enjoy the society to which we ,obtaine
ready entrance. still sef-abserbed, an,
with wonderful egoism, looking upo
all things merely as food for refiectio
and sentiment. Suddenly his whol
nature seemed to undergo a change; /
had found an object in life which w:
beyond and above him, and that obje'
| was a woman.
The story of love is too comnAonpla,
S to need repetition; l also loved Bettir
von Hohenstein, and so tenderly th
when | saw that she had given her hea
TO Emile de Gtlresson spoke not of M
self but ever of him, praising him n
in all ways endeavoring to bring abo'
tilelr marriage soon, so that all won
be ended. 1 dreaded to think VIII
would be the fate of Bettina should Il
s idiosyncracy return to plague him, f
then | knew that nOChing would stal
" in the way of misery to her-the mise
of being hated, or that lower, depth
SIS anguish TO sensitive nature whi'
comes from neglect on the part of tho
it owes. loved Emile also-Ioyed. hi
as myself, bnt | also understood hi
AS | now see, it would have been bett
to hayeprevented the marriage, bnt
.r lievepthe happiness of both depended
my acting AS did, nor. probably cou
have had my way had chosen to
in terfere. They were married. and,
OF both insisted npon my doing so, |
IN ~ turned with them to Brittany. I so
it saw with joy that already the influeI
nd ofthe wife had only been for good
Nc Nc that ease of mental pathology, and
lie hoped for II steady Improvement.
. ioyed her as had not considered it p
= sible for him to love; he was absorl
in her; together they rode aud drove a
re read they were inseparable, and, as
r. bride ripencd into the wife the h
of band, from a sOphist and dream
nd seemed to be becoming man. He t.
Ia an interest in the cultivation of
,rs estate such as he had never shown
ad fore and evidently hODed that his cI