Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-03-15

md rniseryf How touching d the
request 20 Mis- Porter: 81 shall take
II very kindly Il you make it rule 70
write to me once at least every week.
for am now very desolste, and am
10th to be universally forgotten.
Mr.. Lewes has thrown discredit up
on the correspondence of Bettina; hel
treats it = romance Of Bettins'a, sd
ding that: "How much is true, how
much exaggeration, and how much
pure fiction. l am in no position -
explain" The book when it appeared
two years a1ter the poets death
threw Germany into . ferment IL
was the story Of the passionate feeling
with which Goethe. at sixty years OF
age. had inspired = young girl Of
twenty, and of the half-tolerant. half
encouraging response he had made to
it The poet seemed . god to Bettina.
This orphan girl half German. half
Italian. sentimental. mystic, ardent
loved the poet with all the strength OF
her soul before she saw him. and when
she knew him she worshiped him like
q v0tary in an abandonment Of devo-
ton. vi lie on the ground on the
spot where thy feet rested5 I am well
there and nowhere else," she writes.
Goethe answered letters full Of such
outbursts in q manner that showed
that his vanity was fattered, his inn
agination stimulated, his intellectual
curiosity (Which was ever on the alert
for manifestations of cAaracter)
aroused ''Thy letters" he writes.
care like braid of thousand colors
which I unbind in order to classify it,
beautiful wealth" He bids her 60 on
confiding her feelings to him 50 that
he may translate them. put them into
rhyme. use them. Another time he
writes: ''Thy letters are read and 10
read with . great deal Of pleasure;
what my pen could answer fxils to
convey the immediate impression they
produce. and to which one allows ono
self SO willingly to yield; feeling. not
withstanding. that those are all
illusions. for who could reasonably
believe in so much love? It is best to
accept it all as . dream" Another
time he writes: Thou art like q
lovely light. softly Frightening the
evening of my life" Did the great
man tire Of his Notary? Did Goethc's
wife cause the sudden rupture that at
the end of four years rid the poet Of
Bettina's rapturons devotion? Long
afterward they met again. just once.
a short time before the poets death.
Of the love letters ofillustrious men,
none are more exquisite or tragically
pathetic than these of Keats to his
"leopardess," as the boy-poet called
the woman he loved There is no play
fitness in those letters. They are
written from the shadow of the tomb
with the despair Of an all-absorbins =
love. making life a rapture.
Balzac's letters to the Comtesse
Hanska, the lady whom he afterward
are marvels of expression Of
the sway of love over rich nature.
Z" have in the treasure of your let
tiers. in the no less incompatible one
of my recollections of you. in my
grateful and constant thought of all
good you have done my soul by your
advice. your example. sovereign RENE
dies against all misfortune; and bless
you often. my dear and beneficent star.
in the silence of the night and in the
stress of my torments" Balzac had
written . few years before to q woman
friend: =. Friendship goes further than
love; for to me it appears to be the
last stage of love. quietness and Sc
curity in happiness. When love
touched his heart he wrote no more
IF the superiority Of friendshin-Lon-
lon Queen