The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-02-09
THEODORE TO ELIZABETH.

ti ounu, LILIlS w Uou iNCluAeus hO St'io
THEODORE TO ELIZABETH.
Dec. 6, 1S66.--Alf day long have been
reading "Gritith Gaunt." 1t turns on
jealousy. l am not jealous, nor do |
know the feeling. think any man is a
TOOL TO be jealous. If he is jealous with
more foolish. But l am somewhat dis
turbed, and have been for long while
past, at the diminishing faith which /
entertain for human nature. Human
characters do not seem so lovely TO me
as they once did. Perhaps this view is
temporary-the result OF passing
shadow. Or rather, perhaps, it is be-
cause l do not entertain so good an opin-
ion OF my own character-its moral
strength and unbending rectitude-as |
once supposed ] could justly entertain.
You can not guess for what one thing l
most yearn to see you. 1t is to kneel by
your side at our familiar evening prayer.
My prayers of late have seemed all
spiritless without you. l am meyer so
true man as in my prayers-when l
have prayed with my arm around your
neck. 1t seems to me now that l can
not live this winter without at least see-
ing you once or twice--lf for no other
moments than first those greatest of all
moments. l see, with agony in the re-
troSpect, how my life has been marred
by social influences coming from your
mother-hOw they disastrously have af.
feeted us both. If you should ever ap.
pear to me anything less than the ideal
woman, the Christian saint, that.I know
you to be, shall not care to live day
longer.
JAN. 10, 1861 am glad Mr.. Beecher
called ON you. / will write to thank him
for it. have not had a line from him,
but have had two brief notes from MIR.
Greeley.
DEC. 27, 1861 don't expect to be
lonesome much longer, for / am to meet
you in Chicago. Now that the other man
has gone of lecturlng, as your letter
mentions, you can afford TO come to me.
You ought to be enjoying what l am en-
joying on this magnificent trlp-for in-
stance, this aiternoOn-a dinner party.
Leave home, children, kith and KIN, and
cleave unto him unto whom you origin
ally promised to cleave. You promised
you leave me all alone, and clcaye to
him.
"Oh, frailty! thy name is woman"
If you can get anybody to pour tea for
you, and to take sauce from the servants,
and to receive pastoral visits, shall eX-
pect to meet you under the roof of Robert
Hatfield.
MARCH 81, 1851 am, at this midnight
hour, In the same hotel in Rochester, n.
Y. and in the same room, where you and
/ were quartered eleven and q half years
ago, on our wedding tourl What his
tory these years unfold to our, backward
gaze! Gray hairs have stolen upon us
since then! Time and care have jointly
,wrinkled our Drows. Joys and SORROWS
have checkered oltr path. Four children
have been given to us on earth, and one
of these has been taken back to heaven.
You have had sickness, and / have had
toll. Both of us may now look back to
that wedding pilgrimage, and smile at
how little we then knew of human life!
Thank God, the years grow richer as we
grow olderl Not yet conquerors of our
selves, we are, nevertheless, nearer the
victory now than then. l would not eX-
change the present for the past! With
what self-complacency l looked upon
my life in those "green and salad daysw
How strong thought myself for the bat
tie! The revelations OF later years sub
due mans pride by teaching him his
weakness. At this retrospective mo-
ment, in this charmed chamber, am
humble, sad, and calm. Life is sober, as
| now look upon it.. Death is near, as ]
now think Of it. Heaven is sweet, as |
now wait for it. l have not made the
best, or even a good use of my last ten
years. have less faith in my moral in
tegrity now than at any former period of
my life. 1t is hard to live well. Never
thelesS, my dear pet, we will try again to
realize more perfectly our ideals. May
God bless us both, now and ever.