St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-19
LADY BUTTONS SACRIFICE.
She Burns Manuscript and De-
clines q Fortune.

Lady Burton, widow of Capt. Burton,
the famous traveller and author, con-
tributes to the London Morning Post a
letter respecting her husbands manu-
scripts, in the course of which she says:
"My husband had been collecting for
fourteen years information and materi-
ais on certain subject. His last vol
ume of the Supplemental Nights had
been finished and out on the 18th
of November. 1888. He then
gave himself up entirely to the
writing of this book, which was called
the Scented Garden Translation from
the Arabic. 1t treated of a certain pas
moment that Richard Burton ever
wrote a thing from an impure point of
view. He dissected passion from
every point of view. as a doctor may
dissect body, showing its source, its
origin, its evil and its good, and its
proper uses as designed by PrOviden &c
and nature, as the great academician
Watts paints them. In private life he
was the most pure, the most refined and
modest man that ever lived, and he was
so guileless himself that he conld never
be brought to believe that other men
held OF used these things from any other
standpoint. l, as woman, think diff
ferently
THE day before he died he called me
into his room and showed me half a
page of Arabic manuscript upon which
he was working, and he said: 'TO-mor-
row shall have finished this, and |
promise you after this | will never write
another book-upon this subject. l will
take to our biography l told him it
would be happy day when he left off
that subject. and that the only thing
that recOnciled me to it was that the
doctors had said it was so fortunate,
with his partial loss of health. that he
could find something to interest and oc-
cupy his days. He said: This is to be
your jOinture. and the proceeds are to
be set apart for an annuity for yOu.'
And | said: L hope not: L hope you will
live to spend it like the Other.' He
said: 4 am afraid it will make a great
row in England. because the arabian
Nights" was a baby tale in comparison
to this, and l am in communication
1.-The next morning at 7o'clock he
had ceased to exist. Some days later,
when | locked myself up in his rooms
and sorted and examined the manu-
scripts, read this one. No promise
had been eXacted from me, because the
END had been so unforeseen, and | re-
manned for three days in state of per-
feet torture as to what | ought to do
about it. During that time received
an offer from man, whose name shall
always be kept private, of 5000 guineas
for it. He said: Il know from loo to
1000 men who will buy it at guineas,
that is, guineas the volume, and
as L shall not restrict myself to num-
bers, but supply all applicants on
payment, | shall probably make 92O,-
600 out of it, | said to myself: out
Of l,500 men fifteen will probably read
it in the spirit of science in which it
was written, the other 1,4S5 will read it
Tor filth'S sake, and pass it to their
friends, and the harm done may be in
calculaDle.' Bury it, said one adviser;
don't decide That means digging it
up again and reproducing at will Get
a man to do it for you,' said No. 9;
don't appear in it, Il have got that |
said; i can take in the world, but |
cannot deceive God Almighty. who holds
my husbands soul in his hands, l
tested one man who was very earnest
about it. Let us go and consult so and
so;' but he, with little shrek of hor-
ror, said: oh, pray, don't let me have
anything to do with it; don't let my
tiful book, know
"I'sat down on the floor before the fire
at dark to consult my own heart, my
own head. How wanted a brother!
My head told Inc that sin is the only
rolling stone that gathers moss. That
what gentleman, scholar, a man of
the world may write when living, he
would see very differently to what the
poor soul would see standing naked be-
fore its God, with its good or evil deeds
alone to answer for, and their cOnSe-
quenceS visible to it for the first mo-
ment, rolling on to the end of time. Oh,
for friend on earth to stop and check
theml What would he care for the APP
worlds praise-and God offended?
My heart said, You can have
5000 guineas; your husband worked
happy home with honor and re-
spect for thirty years. How are you
going to reward him? That your
wretched body may be fed and clothed
and warmed for few miserable months
or years, will you let that soul, which
is part of your soul, be left out III cold
and darkness till the end of time, till all
those SINS which have been committed
on account of those writings have been
eXpiated, or passed away perhaps for
ever? Why, it would be just parallel
with the original thirty pieces of sill
ver.'
II fetched the manuscript and laid it
out on the ground before me-twO large
volumes worth. Still my thoughts were,
was it a sacriIege? 1t was his magnum
opus-hiS last work, that ne was so
proud of. that was to have been fin
ished Oh the awful morrow that
never came. Will he rise up in
his grave and curse me or bless
me? The thought will haunt me to
death, but Sadi and Ell Shaykh ell Mai
zawih, who were pagans, begged par
don of God and prayed not to be cast
into hell fire for having written them.
and implored their friends to pray for
them to the Lord that he would have
mercy on them. And then | said Not
only not for 5000 guineas. but not for.
100000 guineaS, will | risk it, SOr-
rowfully, reverently. and in fear and
trembling, | burned sheet after sheet
until the whole of the volume was con-
Sumed.
1T is my belief that by this act, if my
husbands soul were weighted down,
the cords were cut, and it was free to
soar to it's native heaven. AS we had
received no money in advance, | was
mistress of the situation. If any Judge
otherwise, and deem me unworthy of
their friendship, l must bear it in ST.
lence."
How a King Keeps Cool.