The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1880-04-21

and tossed up ID the air. The ribbon
always lay near him when he wrote.
Sometimes he would play with It as fu-
r1ously as q kitten with a ball. Every
week he bought new ribbon and threw
the old play thing away.
It was after his thirtieth year that
Heine's relationship with Mathilde be-
gan. He looked upon it as a merely tenn
porary affair at first, but a tender, yield
ing heart, combined with a weak will,
converted it into firm enduring bond.
Whether it gave direction to his life, and
brought him more happiness than sor-
row, is question hard to answer. Once
he tried to break away from it. It 1885
he went to Campo, from whence he wrote:
"Thank God, my soul is once more tran
quill. My excited senses are again tanned
and live joyously and free in the castle
OF q charming friend in circle of dis
tinguished persons. I believe my spirit
IS at last purified from all dross. My
verses will be better, my books more har-
monicus. So muchI know; have at
this moment horror Of everything that
is not noble and clear, of all that is com
mon and vain.'' He did not keep on
this rich plane very long, though. Three
months later he wrote from Bologne to
another friend: unfortunately I did
not see the bearer of your letter, because
/ was in the country, near St. German,
| at the castle Of a most beautiful, most
noble, and most intellectual woman
with whom, however, am not in love. I
am condemned to love only the lowest
and most ignorant. Do you comprehend
how this must make man suffer who is
proud and intelligent He had, in fact,
on lis return from Paris, resumed his life
with Ma1hllde, whom he presented to his
friends as Madame Heine. They con-
Quoted together smenage Parisicn" for
many years before they were united in a
legal way. In fact it was not until his
duel in 1871, that Heine, fearing he might
be killed, changed his "wlld marriage ''
into "tame marriage" as he wrote a
friend, "to assure Mathilde's position in
the world. Mathilda was Norman vii
lage CHILD, thrown by accident into Par
/ is, and was wholly uneducated. Worse
still she had no capacity for study. Heine
sent her for several months to boarding
school, but she learned nothing After
ward he engaged friend to teach her
the elements of the German language,
but after six months effort she was not
able to speak single German sentence.
The nearest she came to success in this
direction was "Neme,,-si-p katz,'' with
which phrase she always greeted the
poets German callers. Once she declar-
ed that she shonld have to give up her
German studies because the effort to pro-
nounce the words gave her catarrh and
sore throat. She had an affected, child
ish way of speaking French, such as was
the fashion at that time with girls of a
certain age. Perhaps 1t became her when
she was very young and pretty, but Meiss.
ner found it very stupid in stout wo-
man of thirty.
| How Heine could live happily with q
woman whose ignorance surpassed belief
and who was absolutely incapable Of cul.
ture, is mystery. Mithilde had not the
slightest appreciation of his literary
work. She used to say: s'People tell me
that Henri is talented man, and writes
very nice books; must be content tc
take them at their word, for never re-
marked anything OF the sort Not only
/ had Heine no intellectual companion in
| his wife, but he had no happy domestic
7 life;sto she cared as little for home du.
ties and comforts as for books. When he
was i'll, nothing could keep her back from
her daily drives in the Champs Elysee
or the Bots de Boulogne, or her visit tc
the Hippodrome. Indeed, she seemed tc
care more for Cocotte, her parrot, than
for her husband. Heine was not jealous
but he was often anxious about her alb.
sence from home. ''But what can I do?'
he said once to friend. 81 must leave
everything to fate and the dear God
How can /, sick man, compete with 8
half-milllon Of men?' once he gave 8
comical account of his trouble when Ma
Z th1lde was absent longer than usual. II
was really very much worried yesterday
Mathilde completed her toilet at two
o'clock and went to drive. She promised
to be back by four. Five o'clock came
and she did not return; six, she came not
eight, she did not appear. My anxiety
increased. Had she got tired of the pool
sick man and gone off with some sly Sc
Queer? In my painful apprehension
called her maid and asked if Cecotte
the parrot, was still in her room. The
parrot was there. A load fell from my
heart. I knew she would not elope witt
out Cocotte."
Heine concealed his domestic trouble.
carefully from the world. He constantly
praised Mathilde's humor and her child
ish gayety, as if this was enough to make
man bappy-as if he had no right t
expect moreno right to ask for helpful
ness, interest in his intellectual lite
:. pleasure at its successes, encouragement
to new effort, comfort and sympathy il
suffering. There can be no doubt, how
ever, in the following verse IN one of hi
poems he pictured his own condition
when he spoke Of frustrated life ane
frustrated love:''
Zuweien duenkt as mich, ais truebe
4 Geheime Schnusucht deinen Blick-
lch kenn es woh], das Missgeschlick!
| sVerfehiltes Lcben, verfehlite Liebe!
Du nickst SO traurig. Wiedergeben
Kann ich dir NIGHT die Jugenzeit,
Unheilbar ist dein Herzenlied-
Verfehlte Liebe, verfehltes Leben!
4 AS if in mockery of Heine's sad fate
Leon G ozian wrote two cruel lines IN an
album the poet bought as a present fo1
his wife. It was the fashion thirty year,
ago to keep albums on table and demand