The Minneapolis journal., 1906-08-05

REMARKABLE NFATUAMON OF
CYNICAL OLD MAN.
Letters Given Publicity by DR.. Brandes
Reveal an Unknown and Surprising
Affection of Old Poet for an Austrian
Girl Who Seems to Have Recipro-
Gated the Tender Feelings.

Ibsen had a heart, after all. Even
at the advanced age of 81 years it
beat with the hot ardor of youth, and
al for shrinking maiden of 20 springs.
dramatist's life is disclosed in a Sc
ries of letters given to the world by
DR.. George Brandes. They We're ad
dressed to Miss Emile Bardach of
Vienna, and are couched in the eXtrava-
giant language of a schoolboy inditing
his efusions to his first love.
When the letters first appeared they
were received with incredulity, in spite
of the fact that they were published
by the reliable old Verdens Gang and
were authenticated by DR.. Brandes. 1t
seemed to the world that the man who
could remain away from the marriage
of his son to a daughter of an old
friend was incapable of the affection
30 fervently breathed in the letters as
they appeared in the papers.
Brandes, to whom they were intrusted
the public. While both the per-
sons are wholly above suspicion, the
letters reveal weakness entirely at
variance with the stern and unyielding
character the old poet was supposed
to possess.
Miss Bardach is now mature woman
Vienna.
She met Henrik Ibsen at Gossensass
in the Tyrol, where she was travelling
with her mother in the fall of 1889.
A warm intimacy, or warmer admira-
tion, immediately sprang up between
the two, and while they never met
again, the attachment called out a Sc
RES of most remarkable letters from
Ibsen. Miss Bardach letters have
never been published, but they are
doubtless of the same general tenor as
those she received.
In the first letter he launches out
in lament that she is so far away
and speaks of his inability to work as
he should because his thoughts are else
where than on his work. A few pas
sages follow:
''With all my heart I thank you,
most esteemed fraulein, for the ex-
t1emely kind and friendly letter which
] received the day before leaving Cos
sensass, and which 1 have read again
and again. That summer resort has
worn quite a mournful look for the
past week-or in any case, so it seemed
to me. No sunshine more. All gone
vanished. The few visitors that re.
manned could, Of course. offer me no
compensation-for the fair, brief days
OF summer.
81 took my walk in the Pferschthal
every day. There is seat by the road
side where 1 am sure two people coul6
that seat was empty, and l passed it by
"The great hail. too, ! found gloomy
and desolate. DO you remem
Der the great deep bay of the window
On the right Of the entrance to thu
veranda7 1t was beautiful bay win
dow. The flowers and plants with thei
Intoxicating perfume still stood ther'
Put nth Sp-h0w
how lonely-how descrted!'
The reply to his pathetic letter mus
have been satisfactory, for the ton
of the second letter is much more cheer
full and lively. 1t might be said to b
the most ardent of the twelve epistles
Ny mag gination is lively and aetlv
enough. But it is always soaring ava.
elsewhere Thither where in working
hours it has no business to be. / can
not repress my memories of summer
Nor will I. I 60 thru my adventure
again and again-and ever again. T
transform all this to poem is at pres
ent impossible.
"Ah, dear fraulein, forgiv
me: you write so charmingly in You
last. No, NO God forbid that it shoul
be your last. In your latest letter yo
fraulcin to you.' Well, then, dear
dear child-for that you are in an
case to me-tell me, do you remembe
one day when we talked about go
lies and 'madness'Y Or, rather,
talked lot about them. Then yol
dear child, took up the part Of teacher
and remarked in your quiet, melodiou
way, with a faroff look, that there wa
nevertheless always a difference b;
tween folly and madness. -
This letter closes with "Good nigh
thousand times.'' Whether the girl
mother or Mrs. Ibsen put a brake o
the ardent writings which were e,