Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1874-08-22

my mind. ! have no vivid rcCOlleC.
ton of the making up of tho letter
or of the precise moods under which
| wrote. cannot give the reason
of the sentence, l only know the
general drift which we were on.
OIL call your attention u it be.
cause criticism is made in certain
quarters that it referred to Mr.. Til.
toms marital trouble growing out
of your offence. A.-Well, but see,
is not it going back to friendship 7
Is not it the restoration of the
family?
Q.-What you ask for is that you
three should be made friends again 7
Ayes; that we should all CO.
operate.
Q.-And you say that Theodore
will have the hardest task 7
A.-There was q family that by Cir
cumstances had been brought to the
bitterest antagonisms ut u time of
the most profound adversely, when
Mr.. TiltOn had got to struggle for
his livelihood, for his name, for his
position and for his household,
every thing put t0gather. lie was
in u situation in which he had got
to exert himself in every way for
restoration in every manner, and
the point was that she should co.
operate with him as we'll as with
his friends, if she had her sorrows
to bear at home, he had his too.
That it was, l think likely, may
have suggested those words. Eliza
beth, you know, was at times i'm.
mensely bitter against Theodore,
and felt that she had been the ag-
grieved one, and l had been led to
suppose that she had not been any
thing like SO much aggrievcd rs l
now suppose she had been.
Q.-ln the same letter of Feb. Z,
you say, "of course | can never
speak with her again without his
permission, and l don't know that
even than it would be best" Why
did you say that A.-Becausc
either at the time of that letter from
Mr.. ROwen, or in it's immediate vi
entity, Mr.. Tilton, as l have the i'm
preston now, sent word by Mr..
DO wen Though l cannot be sure of
that) forbidding me ever to enter
his house again.
Q.--When was that ? Alt was
in the vicinity of the whole business
but in what way it came or what
the precise date of it was, l cannot
tell. l only know that the message
was conveyed to me from him, but
by whom, or how, or when, | have
forgotten it was a distinct thing in
my memory, and atterward he, on
one or two occasions, took pains to
revoke it after he had been recon-
ciled.
GIN the same letter occurred
the words (Which Mr.. Tilton in his
statement made appear to come
from another letter, but which in
fact are from the same letter,
''When 1 saw you last, l did not
expect ever to see you again or
be alive many days" What, was
in your mind when you wrote them ?
Aust what l have stated in my
statement already.
Q.-Nothlng else A.-No; !
know have frequently said "I
wish ! was Dead" and Theodore
Tilton he came in and said he wish
ed he was dead, and Moulton was
frequently in a state in which he
wished he was dead, and Mrs.
Tilton said: III am living among
friends, every one of whom wishes
he was Dead" or something like
that; l do not know that it was
than that, but she put it in
a way that was very ludicrous
every one of us used to be echoing
that wish; we were vexcd and
plagued together, and l used the
familiar phrase,"I wish l was dead"
Q.-The outside gossip is that
you referred in that line to contem.
plated suicide.
Mr.. Beecher.-How do you pro-
pose to cure the gossip?
Mr.. Winslow.-I cannot say, but
want to know if anything of that
kind was in your mind.
Alt was not my general pur-
pose in the matter of this whole
thing was this (and 1 kept it as the
mother of my life, by patient con-
tinuance in well doing to put to
shame those who falsely accused
me. l meant to put down and
preach down this trouble. Ofcourse
N my dismal moods felt as though |
The earth had come to the end. Now |
n interpreting these special letters
everybody is irresistible tempted
% suppose that everything l said
narrowly, in regard to their text,
instead of considering the forego-
Dg state of my mind, whereas my
ltterances were largely to be in
:erpreted by the past as we'll as by
he presant or the future. cannot
Interpret them precisely as | can a
tote of hand or a check. A man
hat is poetical, man that is often
ines extravaganza, a man that is
ubject to moods such as make me
What am, cannot narrowly meas.
ire his words, and yet from this
writing OfOver four years-in every
condition, in this large
correspondence, proceeding from a
nind speaking in hyperbOlioal