The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1888-04-06
Great Mems Love Letters.

London Queen.
DIR. johnson was not It letter writer
in the true sense OF the word. How
, pathetic and solemn is the glimpse of
the sick man in the following, written
TO his friend, Mrs. Boothby: at
is again midnight, and am alone.
/ With what meditation shall | am,lse
this waste hour Of darkness and va
Guilty? Ii turn my thoughts upon
myself, what do perceive but IL poor,
helpless body, reduced by blast
of wind to weakness and misery"
How touching is tins request to Miss
Porter: 81 shall take it very kindly
once ut least every week, for l am
now very desolatc, and am loath to
be universally forgotten"
| Goethe at sixty years OF agcinspired
u youn. girl OF t"en:y. EettInt. with
II passionate love ana admiration for
him. The poet seemed - god to Bet
tina. This orphan girl. half German,
hall Italian, sentimental, mystic,
ardent, loved the poet with all the
strength OF her soul before she saw
him, and when she knew him she
worshipcd him like Il votary in an
abandonment of devotion. II lie on
the ground on the spot where thy feet
rested; am well there aud nowhere
.lS.." she writes. Goethe answered.
letters full OF such outblrsts III n
manner that showed his vanity WAS
battered. his Imagination stimulat-
cd. his intellectual curiosity (which
was ever OH the alert for manifesto.
tions OF chiractcry aroused. lie bids
her 20 on contiding her feelings to INN
SO that he may translate them. put
them INTO rhyme, Use them.
Another time he writes: "Thy let.
trrs are read and rcreud with u great
deal OF pleasure; what my pen could
answer fails to convey the immediate
impression they produce, and to which
one allows oneself so willingly to yield.
frclin. notwithstanding that those
are all illusions, Tor who could reason
ably believe in So much love? 1t is
best to accept it all as Il dream"
Another time he writes: Thou art
like IL lovely light softly Frightening
man tire OF his votary; did Goetbe's
wife cause the sudden rupture that at
the end OF four years rid the poet of
Bettina's rapturous devotion? Long
afterward they met again Just once,
u short time before the poets death.
| OF the love letters OF il!ustrlous men
ncne are more exquisite or traeically
pathetic than those OF Keats to his
"[.eoparless. as tue boy poet called
the woman he loved. There is no
/ playfulness in those letters. They
are written from the shadow of the
tomb, with the despair OF an all.ab-
! sorbng love. making life rapture.
| Balzac's letters to the Comtcsse
! Hanska, the lady whom he afterward
married.. are marvels OF expression OF
! the sway OF love over rich nature.
81 have in the treasure OF your letters,
i'll the no less incompatible one OF my
recollections OF you.ip my grateful and
constant thought of ali the good you
have done my soul by your good ad,
vice, your example, sovereign r.mc-
dies against all misfortune. and ] bless
you often. my dear and bel,efeent
star, in the silence of the night and in
the stress OF my tormrnts."
Balza had written a levy years bv.ore
to a woman friend: "Friendship goes
further than love, for to mo it app rars
to be the last stage OF love, qnietness
and security in happiness" Whel,
love touched his heart he wrote no
more OF the superiority OF friendship.