Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1908-10-02
Immortal Love.


or human nature, remarked the anat-
omist, lis the breaking up OF love be-
tween two persons when one dies"
Love does not necessarily break up
In such an event" replied the psychol-
ogist.
Il don't agree with you. Love after
the death Of the being loved Is sim
ply memory"
Gases of actual love between the
sexes are very rare-one In a thou
sand. They are not mere memory aft
er death; they are immortal"
"Can you give me such a case?"
"Yes, one. 1t Is the only one that
has ever come to my knowledge. Lis
ten and I will relate it.
Douglas Bfssell knew the moment
he set eyes on Caroline La Cour that
she and he had been appointed by
Providence to be lovers. Miss La Cour
recognized the fact at the same In
slant. Bissef1 was a young northerner
who, after being graduated at college.
went to New Orleans as a teacher.
Miss La Cour was a creole. Their
love came as a child is born-that is.
a perfect thing, though 1t grew as the
child grows. 1t cannot be said that
it was a case Of that turbulent evanes
cent love which with extreme
youth. for Bissell was thirty years old
when they met, and Miss La Cour was
twenty-five. 1t was unalterable from
its inception.
at was the woman who was taken
away. She died during one of the
epidemics of yellow fever that occurred
about the middle of the last century
and but a few weeks before they were
to have been married. Such partings
-partings between beings in whom
there is this real immortal love-are
terrible. Miss La Cour In all the phys
ical agony of death resulting from that
awful disease did not suffer bodily
as the lover suffered in soul, and when
all was Owe he fell into a stupor from
which his friends despeired of ever
the same man.
BisseIl never married. He lived
alone. If he had a companion It was
his wife. He told others that there
was such a companionship, though
when he attempted to explain 1t he
failed signally. He could say rather
what 1t was not than what it was. For
instance, she did not visit him. It was
not one of those cases where one
broods over a grave. The mortal part
of his love was placed in a tomb pro
vided for II, and Bissell went there
but seldom. He did not consider what
was there as being any more a part of
his love than one of her gowns. She
was elsewhere. i
But n day when he made one Of his
periodical visits to the tomb to see
that the premises were In condition he
weeping before It.
pardon me- said Bissell, we have
brother. I often heard my love speak
of him-he who was living In South
America"
81 was not her brother. 1 am her
lover
For a few moments there was ST.
fence. during which the two men re-
garded each other with a strange ex.
preston on the face of each. Then
Bissell spoke:
"You say o are her lover. That
is my position
"'Pardon me, it Is mine
"'Do you mean to assert that she
Eve loved your
"'She did. We met in Paris. She
was but eighteen. l offered her my
love, and 1t was accepted. Circum-
stances which l do not care to reveal
parted u.s.
Strange replied Bissell, half to
himself, that she eve told me of
this-affair.'
There was no affair. 1t was an
undying love-
".On your part, lot on hers
az believed she loved me always. /
believe she loves me now
"Bissell carried a cane 1t was one
of those sword canes very much in use
at that period. Taking 1t in both
hands, he partly drew the blade, then
thrust 1t back.
Pardon me; 1 forget you are un-
armed
"'You mistake; 1 am armed And
the stranger drew from his OWE walk
ing stick q similar blade.
Fortunate said Bissell, drawing
his steel. She whose mortal part lies
there Is mine. You dispute her pos
session with me. We cannot both nave
her. One must give place to the other
But, mind you, If 1 fall she is still
mine
There was a fervor In the last four
words that could scarcely have been
equaled had the object been a living
being.
cit seems to me- said the stranger
refectively, that we are about to fight
for that which has no real existence
"'Your words show that this love
you speak of in your ease is not real