Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1880-04-22

OF charming friend in circle of dis
tinguished persons. believe my spirit
Is at last purified from all dross. My
verses will be better, my books more har'
moni"us. So much know; have at
this moment horror of everything that
is not noble and clear, OF all thatis com
mon and vain." He did not keep on
this rich plane very long, though. Three
months later he wrote from Bologna to
another friend: Unfortunately did
not see the bearer of your letter, because
l was in the country, near st. German,
at the castle of most beautiful, most
noble, and most intellectual woman
with whom, however, am not in love. /
am condemned TO love only the lowest
and most ignorant. Do you comprehend
how this must make man suffer who is
proud and intelhgenta' He had, in fact,
on has return from Paris, resumed his life
with Mathllde, whom he presented to his
friends us Madame Heine. They con,
Quoted together "menage Parisien" for
many years before they were united in a
legal way. In fact it was not until his
duel in 1S4l, that Heine, fearing he might
be killed, changed his "wlld marriage"
into "tame marriage" as he wIote q
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 a boarding
school, but she learned nothing. After
ward he engaged trend 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 "Nemen- Si-ptatz," 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
lsh way of speaking French, such as was
the fashion at that time with girls of
certain age. Perhaps 1t became her when
she was very young and pretty, but Meiss.
ner found it very stupid in a stout wo.
man of thirty.
How Heine could live happily with a
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: "People tell me
that Henri is talented man, and writes
very nice books; must be content to
take them at their word, for l never re-
marked anything OF the Sort" Not only
had Heine no intellectual companion in
his wife, but he had no happy domestic
life; tor she cared as little for home du-
ties and comforts as for books. When he
was ill, nothing could keep her back from
her daily drives in the Champs Elysee
or the Bots de Boulogne, or her visit to
the Hippodrome. Indeed, she seemed to
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 doc"
he said once to friend. 81 must leave
everything to fate and the dear God.
How can I, a sick man, compete with a
half million of menu" once he gave a
comical account of his trouble when Ma
tnllde 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 poor
sick man and gone off with. some sly Sc
Queer? In my painful apprehension l
called her maid and asked if Cocotte,
the parrot, was still in her room. The
parrot was there. A load fell from my
heart. l knew she would not elope with
out CocOtte."
Heine concealed his domestic troubles
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 to
expect moreno right to ask for helpful
ness, interest in his intellectual lite,
pleasure at its successes, encouragement
to new effort, comfort and sympathy in
suffering. There can be no doubt, how
ever, in the following verse In one of his
poems he pictured his own condition
when he spoke of frustrated life and
frustrated love:''
| Zuweilen duenkt as mich, ais truebe
Geheime Schnusucht deinen Blick-
| 1ch kenn es WOhl, das Missgeschlick!
| Verfehiltes Leben, yerfeAlite Liebe!
| Du nickst so traurig. Wiedergeben
Kann lch dir NIGHT die Jugenzeit,
Unheilbar ist dein Herzenlied-
Verfehlte Lebe, verfehltes Leben!
As if in mockery of Heine's sad fate
Leon G0zian wrote two cruel lines IN an
album the poet bought as a present for
his wife. 1t was the fashion thirty years
age to keep albums on table and demand
of friends the inscription OF sentiment,
a poem, a reflection or protestation Of
friendship. In order to fill the album
the poet invited some OF his literary
friends to dinner, among whom were
Jules Janin, Hector Burloiz and Leol
Gozlan. After the vlands and wine hat
been disposed of, the book was produced
and each one wrote, shook hands will
the host and hostess, then departed. Coz
Ian was last, and this was what he wrote
in that fatal VOLUME. I'll ny qu'un seu
moyen de Sc defaire dune vieiIle matt
resse. II faut en- faire sa femme. Leol
Gozlan."