West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-04-20
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN Az.
THOR.
Selected for the DExocRAr.


On three occasions in twenty-five
years the idea of q book on Love, o
the profound social need to which il
should respond, presented itself tt
me in all its gravity.
The first time, in 1886, before 6
raging literary food had swept ovel
us, l desired to write book of this
kind. l was then in the flower Of
middle-age.
But the necessary treatises were
not published. l wrote few ven
turesome pages on middle-aged wo.
men, and there fortunately stopped.
In 1914, the confidence of youth,
| and 1 dare say, the sympathy OF
every one, surrounded me, in my
professors chair of History and
Moral Philosophy. | then saw and
knew many things. / became ac-
quainted with the public morals. /
felt the necessity of serious book
on Love.
In 1S49, when social tragedies
broke the hearts of men and women,
till the very air was chilled with
horror, it seemed as though the
blood had all abandoned our veins.
In presence of this phenomenon,
which imminently threatened an ex-
tinction of every kind of life, / ap-
pealed to what little of animal
warmth still remained to US; in
voked, to the succor of law, the rem
ovation of morals, purifying OF
love and of the family.
The occasion of 1914 deserves to
be remembered.
In gathering together my recol-
lections, and looking over my nu-
merous letters of that time, l see
that the singular confidence the pub
lie manifested in me arose from the
feeling that / was man abiding in
solitude, stranger to all classes,
removed from the quarrels of the
day, shut up in thought.
This isolation, however, was not
without its drawbacks. In the first
place my remarks were not peril
nent To the times. Like near
sighted man, Iran against walls and
posts without number. Though l
made many trials, / invented old
things, which had long before been
discovered and known. In return,
/ myself remained asoung. ! was
worth more than my discourses. |
brought to this teaching of philoso-
phv and history a soul as yet entire,
great freshness of mind-under
forms often subtle, a true simplicity
of heart-in fact, at the very height
of the contest, certain peaceful
spirit.
Whence came this? From the
fact that, well preserved for my age,
knowing man not at all (and books
but little), L hated no one. NV bat
ties were those of an idea against an
idea.
This touched the public. They
had never met so ignorant man;
that is to say. one who knew so lit
tie of what was the town talk.
Knowing nothing of the theories
that had been promulgated, nor of
the hackneyed solutions which
would have helped me to answer, l
was obliged to depend upon myself,
to draw from myself, and, having
nothing else, to share with the pub
lie my life.
This was what they wanted, and
they came to me. Many revealed
themselves to me, did not fear to
show their hidden wounds, to bring
me their bleeding hearts. Men, al
ways defantly closed against the
mockery of the world, opened them
selves willingly to me; l never
laughed. Ladies, brilliant and
worldly, and for that the more un-
happy; others pious, studious, aus
tere-ay even nuns-ignored the
fictitious barriers of worldly propri-
ETY. and opinion, as we do when we
are lying i'll. Singular, but very
precious correspondence these,
which / have preserved with the
care and respect that they deserve.
| had not gone to the world; the
world had come to me. From it |
obtained much information. Secrets
of our nature, to which / should
never have penetrated. were revealed
to me in an instant. Learned more
of them in few years than the mo-
notonous spectacle of society's draw
ing-rooms would ever have taught
me. saw to the very bottom of
mems hearts But, to reply to their
appeal, was obliged also to explore
carefully my own, to seek there re-
sources and strength. l cannot
boast of having felt no emotion from
the habitual contact of so many
disordered minds. But even that
helped me. The impression | re-
ceiyed from them, real and pro-
foupd ono waS often itself a remedy