Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1912-02-01
ONE MUST
FEEL 1T
BY PHILIP VANDEVEER
Copyright by American Press Assoc
citation, 1911.

short, sweet n fiery. We parted
after a quarrel and never spoke again.
The only things which passed be-
tween us after the break were the
gifts 1 had bestowed upon her and
III letters. When mine came back
to me 1 tossed them into a drawer in
a writing desk I kept for personal s
in my home, intending to destroy them
when l had time. But somehow I
disliked to touch anything that re-
minded me of this love turned to
hate.
My engagement to Mildred that fol-
lowed was a very different affair. I
resolved that 1 would write no such
twaddle as 1 had written Edith. Mil
dred was n Of those u~ndemonstra-
tive girls whose feelings are often
very strong, but who keep them pent,
fearing that some one may detect them.
Such people rarely make friends. Those
they meet casually are never drawn
to them, but the few who break
through their shells adore them.
Our engagement was a long one, for
1 was obliged not only to set my
house in order, but first to get the
house. I was satisfied that Mildred
was the woman 1 wanted for a wife.
We were companionable, interested In
each other and u joint affairs and
had complementary tastes. But there
was no gush. When we parted and
met our kiss was more like one be-
tween brother and sister than be-
tween lovers. Nevertheless we were
wrapped up in each other.
Our engagement had lasted a year,
and so used had 1 become to consider
ing Mildred as my W personal prop
erty that I gradually dropped what
few endearments I had been used to
giving her. I vas away from her fire.
quently, and so great was my aversion
after my experience with Edith-to
love letters that I never wrote n to
Mildred. Finally, during my absences
I did not write her at all. Mildred
never complained of this in the slight
est. Indeed, she never wrote me except
in reply to a letter Of mine, and it was
usually shorter and less demonstrative
than mine.
Then came a thunderclap. While
from home I received a letter from Mil
dred's sister Clara informing me that
Mildred was intending on my return
to break our engagement. The eason
she would give was that she had found
that she did not love me we'll enough
to marry me. The real reason was my
unloverlike treatment of her. "YOu
have mistaken her" wrote Clara. 'She
is brimful of romance. feeling, every
thing that tends to bring out a grand
passion. She loves you devotely, as
you would have known had you treat
ed her in a way to bring out the
strength of her passion"
With a mute blessing upon Clara for
giving M a chance to avert the calam-
ity before it should fall, I sat about the
work of rectifying my mistake. I be-
gan at once q letter-ignOring, of
course, the information I possessed
which would meet my Mildred's most
ardent desires. What was my disap-
pointment, my chagrin, my terror, to
discover that l could not write in the
required vein. I wrote a dozen letters,
none of which satisfied me. Those that
were exuberant Of love seemed to be-
lie me; those in which 1 expressed what
I conceived to be a full modicum Of
the tender passion seemed cod t. ne.
Every one of them l destroyed. VIE Z
er it was that the attempt to write L
love letter awakened a remembrance
of my affair with Edith that had made
such effusions repulsive to me 1 could
not conjecture; 1 only knew that they
were now impossible to me.
Then a brilliant thought struck me.
I had once written such letters, and
they We're still in my possession. I
could copy them, or when they did not
enter into any particulars-were sim
ply love letters-I might use the orig
inals. 1 telegraphed Clara to send at
once a package marked 'To be de-
stroyed" contained in a drawer at my
desk at home. Two days later l re-
ceived it by express.
Nearly all the letters began "Dear-
est" or dearest sweetheart" or
Dearest, sweetest, loveliest," with no
name at the end of the string. I Sc
lected one which I had written during
an absence from Edith, and it fitted the
case exactly. With a little acid I took
out the date and wrote another. I put
in a postscript saying that since We
had been engaged l had been longing
1 put it "dying"-to write as 1 felt, but
her GOODNESS had induced me to re-
frain. Absence. which pakes the heart
grow fonder, had burst the bonds.
Then, sealing the epistle, I sent it to
Mildred.
I received Il reply which thrilled me
with delight. The poor girl poured
out her heart as spontaneously as a
bird singing for its mate. The spell
a broken. I was enabled to reply in
kind. When I returned we sprang into
each others arms, a pair of real lovers.
That was years ago. Now that 1 have
been married twenty years. my power
Of writing love letters TO nv wife has