The Republican journal., 1874-12-10

says: Every step that have made In
your acquaintance has increased my timidl-
ty. With reckless laugh flung my tiist
offering on the current OF accident, little
thinking it would ever bring me back tears
and smiles, anxious thoughts and fevered
dreams" Toward the end OF the year she
intimates that the terms Of her privilege
will soon expire, and that the correspond
ence must close. The poet replies, urging
its continuance and speaking of the hap
piness it has afforded him. and the desire
to know her personally. She replies: Il
certainly did suppose had written to Mr..
Halleck for the last time; but YOU know
before confess it that | am but too happy
to be convinced by your profound logic
that it is not only my privilege bat my
duty to respond Your witty assumption
of your extensive privilege has delivered
my 'woman's pride from the baslile OF a
word for whose adamantine bars, per-
haps, have not shown proper rever-
ence" After the interchange OF few
more letters the poet announces his inten-
ton OF seeking the home Of his fair cor
respondent and meeting tace to face the
lady whom, a5 Ellen Campbell" he has
learned to highly esteem. This proposal
filled Miss Flanner with dismay. Remem-
bering that she had commenced the ac-
quaintance. she reflected that y tacit
agreement to the poets visit would place
her in the character Of a wooer. An ar
dent admirer Of Halleck's poems, nothing
could have afforded her more pleasure
than to have met him, but under the cir
cnmstances she felt that she must not en-
courage his coming. Her reply was posted
at Washington, whither she had sent it in
care of a relative, and t. that address the
poets subsequent letters were addressed.
She eluded all his efforts to discover her
identity, and ren aimed to him always IAN
Ellen of the mind "A being OF the air"
They never met; wealth OF possible
happiness was left untouched.
For him che aloe never bloomed. She
married, late in life, man her equal in
station but her inferior in natural gifts
and in culture. Whether her brief mar
ried life was congenial and happy we do
not know. The leay es OF this part OF her
heart history we may not turn. We can
but wonder if she, whose thoughts found
such natural expression in poetry, never,
n looking back over the years of the past,
repeated to herself the lines by Owen
Merideth
Whom first we love YOU know we seldom wed.
Time changes all and life, indeed, is not
The thing we planned it out ere hope was dead,
But then, we women can not choose our lot.
g 1t might have been-ah, what, l dare not think.
We are all changed. God Judges for Us bestk7
God help us do our duty and not shrink,
And trust in heaven humblv for the rest
The poet, in writing TO friend on the
subject, years afterward, aIludes to her as
''the heroine of one of my lifes most
cherished r0mances, whose memory has
heretofore been numbered among the dear
est of my inconsiderable joys and men
tions his exceeding grief and disappoint-
ment" at being unable to obtain further
clue to her identity.
Miss Abbie Flanner, at the time of her
correspondence with Fitz-Greene Halleck
was about twenty-six Years OF age, She
was slender and graceful. with cordial and
engaging manners. She had bright, hazel
eyes, attractive features, and peculiarly
sweet smile. When silent and thoughtful,
her face wore a penSive, sad expression,
but when engaged in conversation it light
ed up with animation and intelligence
She was exceedingly sensitive. When her
feelings were wounded she would put her
hand to her face, and Immediately the
tears came trlckllng dOWn her white hn8-
ers She had unusual mental gifts, was 8
fine conversati0nallst, and the queen OF
the circle in which she moved The neces-
sarilv brief extracts from her letters given
here afford little idea Of her talent and
culture
Her family belonged to the Society OF
Friends, or Quakers, She had two brothers
and three sisters The brothers were both
eminent physcians-the eldest died OF
cholera when that disease was prevalent
in Pittsburg She lived but year after
her marriage Her death was marked
by that peace and perfect trust which
characterizes the last hour of a Christian
Above and back Of the Ohio River is
bluff commanding fine view Of the sur
rounding country and tho n1iSty hIua hills
of Virginia Here, beneath the shadowing
trees, in whose branches the birds sing all
day long, is the grave Of Abbie Flanner
Green be the turf above the.N
LING.
The ABOVE very interesting sketch will
interest the lovers of Halleck's writings,
and who that appreciates poetry is not
among them The writer has made but
one error The heroine OF SGotts Lady
of the Lake is not Ellen Campbell; but
Ellen Douglas Editor Journal,