Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-10-28
FIN LOVE LET TERS.
AN EpIsToLARY CONTEST AT THE
RECENT RADFORD FAIR.
ABOUT THIRTY WERE WRITTEN
Two of the Communications Publish
ed in Part Below Are Exquisite
Specimens of Good Composition
Miss Anne Virginia Cu1bertson
Captured the Honors.

! Miss Anne Virginia Cu1bertson
| Captured the Honors.
! RADFORD, VA. October 27.-(Specia1.)
"All the world loves a lover" and the
same can be said of love letters. The
''old. old story" will never grow stale and
Improbable, nor the confessions of lovers
lose aught of their fascination. The mere
mention of a love letter kindles the heart,
! awakening sweet memories and tender
| fancies.
The love letter contest in connection
with the District Fair, in which hand
some silver-mounted chatting dish was
offered by Mr.. J. +. B. Cassell for the best
love letter in reply to one written by
himself and published in the Radford Ad
vance proved exceedingly popular.
! About thirty letters were received,
| ranging from the sublime to the ridicu-
| lous Indeed, variety was not lacking,
| the writer's being of all ages and tempera-
| ments, and of various degrees of culture
and literary capacity. There was the wo-
man of the world, well schooled in the
| art Of love; and the boardjng-school miss,
| the cOllege-bred girl. and the rural belle.
| And the epistles-some clever and orig1-
nal, others inspid, stilted callow; one
or too humorous; nay, positively rldicu-
lous; many sweet and tender, frank, yet
| womanly, and a number exceedingly
beautiful.
THE PRIZE WINNER.
The prize-winning letter. by Miss Anne
Virginia Culbertson. the charming dialect
poet now visiting in Radford is given
in part:
My Dearest:
In these two little words is my answer,
for the first claims you nine and the
second proclaims that to me you are dear
est Of men.
Have I, I wonder, been too ready in
my response? I think not, for it seems
to me very poor sort of love that
seeks to enhance its value by assuming
reluctance. There are women-perhaps the
most dearly loved of all-Who know how
to do this. am not one OF them; for love
regard too high and sacred a thing to
admit Of the shadow of sham or pretense.
Your letter was so simple, so direct, so
tender, that I knew it came from the
heart, and my heart shall speak openly
in answer. If had not felt sure of my
self before, your letter would have made
me love you
II expect never to be able to show you
quite the nature of my love for you. l
shall walk by your side all my days, and
you shall believe that you know my every
heart-throb, but it will not be so. TO
measure my love would be as impossible
as to measure the space that stretched
last night between the shining stars and
the throbbing sea, so you must never ask
me for the metsure Of that which is
measureless I cannot tell you how long
have loved you-perhaps from the day
we met. For even then l said to myself.
He would understand BY which
meant, that if l barred my inmost
thoughts, my highest aspirations, my
cherished ideals, my most sacred be-
liefs, they would touch a responsive chord
in you You would not mock them: for
l had read in your face the nobleness
and tenderness Of your nature. l am not
ashamed to confess my early interest in
you: for in this solemn moment wish
my soul to stand face to face with yours,
naked and unashamed. If you are the
order of men to be repealed by frankress
20 your way, I have misread YOU; you
are of smaller calibre than I had dream
ed, and I shall not grieve for you but
for the man thought you.
|. DOESN'T THINK HER BEAUTIFUL
.sYour letter does not tell me that you
think me beautiful, and I am glad your
love has never persuaded you that am.
If you loved me for beauty's sake. 1
should have no ground for complaint II
you ceased to love me when beauty was
gone If you discover in me some inner
spiritual beauty, and love me for that,
I shall be sure of your love go long IS l
can preserve that beauty of the spirit.
shall try to find just what it is, and
hold fast by it, SO that you may have no
excuse for unloving me, sir! l love to
think that you only of all men can see
this inner beauty-whatever it is-that
has drawn you to me; fro just as the
Oriental woman is yelled to all men but
her lord, so shall 1 walk with
my beauty yelled to all men save you,
and rejoicing that it is so.
Il mus tel: you that you have come
l,ar to Il woman, who, even in these
unromantic days thoroughly believes in
the possibility of a grande passion, and
will be satisfied with no less / should
never be able to reconcile myself to a
lapse into an indifferent affection under
the cares and commonplace of daily life.
So be warned in time.
"And yet notwithstanding this tendency
OF r;1.e to make love 'au grand serieuse,'
there is another side to my nature, and
it demands that you let me laugh at you
occasionally. l was born with a sense Of
humor and I find that most of my
friends give me food for laughter at
time.
Ter tic rest would be just as high
as ,',ur heart, but would glance
levelly into your eyes, walking hand in
hand your equal and your helpmeet in all
things. as it was meant 1 should be.
Il have been utterly unreserved for once,
and have barred my heart for you to
read. though I am reserved by nature,
and shall not always be able to reveal my
self even to you. Yet whether seem near
or remote. whether I am kind or cold,
whether l am sad or glad, believe that
through all and in spite Of all my -,
1 am in mind. and heart and soul, surely
and unchangingly all that is implied in
the one brief word. yours ("
LIKE THE GLORIOUS.
One beautiful letter ran as follows:
Out from behind the dark and change
able clouds of fear and doubt, dear heart,
your love has come like the glorious sun,
to make bright and beautiful my existence
Sometimes I have thought that I knew
your secret, sometimes 1 have hoped that |
the beautiful vision of my dreams was
true. and there were the days when the |
silver lining Of the cloud was visible and |
partially reflected the glory of the sun |
behind it. Then again my soul despaired, |
believing that the love Iongings of my |
u