The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-07-19
STEVENSON LETTERS
SOON TO Be SOLD
In One Of Them Novelist Wrots
to His Father of
Religion.
"THERE'S a MANIFEST GODn
Epistle Was Penned at Cafe
de la Source, in
Paris.
"THERE'S A MANIFEST GOD,,
special Correspondence TO rnE ST.,


LONDON, July 10.-A large batch Of LAT,
ters and manuscripts by Robert lou,.
stevenson, now the property OF Lloyd O.
bourne. his stepson. will be sold on july "a
The letters date back to the spring q,
1873, and the earliest OF all Is an a,to,
graph note written In the spring OF tina,
year. when Stevenson ives 20, stu A law
student, with no more than literary
tastes and all his literary life and al.
venture before him. He wrote then,
Il think now. this Eth or 9th OF April
1873, that I can see my future life
think It will run stiller and stiller. year
by year. very quiet desultorily studiou.
existence. II God only gives me tolersbIe
health think now ! shall be very happy
work and science calm the mind and sion
gnawing in the brain. and as am glad
to say that do now recognize that shall
never be great man. | may set myself
peacefully on a smaller journey no,
without hope of coming to the Inn before
nightfall."
Life of a Nomad.
Another early letter. addressed to his
mother. Is dated from the Euston and Vic.
toria Hotels, Euston station, October 10
1874, when he was still studying Scots
law but was paying frequent visits 10
London and Paris. This Is an extract:
You must understand U want to say
more or less. until my days be done
Just wait until / am In swing. and you
VIII see | shall pass more OF my life with
you than elsewhere only. take me az
am, and give me line. / must be a bit
Of vagabond; It's your own fault after
ALL Isn't 1t? You shouldn't have had a
tramp for a SON.
Three and a half years later in letter
written to his father from the Cafe de Ia
Source, boulevard st. Michel, Paris, Feb.
ruary 10. 1873, he speaks OF his attitude
to Christianity. the question which since
his student days had clouded the deep at.
tachment between them:
II have had some sharp lessons and
some very acute sufferings in these last
seven and twenty years; more than even
you would guess | begin to grow an old
man. IA little sharp. / fear. and little
close and unfriendly, but stu have
good heart and believe in myself and m,
fellow men and the God who made us all
There are not many sadder people
In the world perhaps than I 4; have m,
eye on a sckbed. Two years ago !
think l was as bad a man as was cor
sistent with my character. And OF al
that has happened to me since then
strange 40 II may seem to you. everything
has been in one way or another bringing
me little nearer to what think you
would like me to be. 'Tis a strange world
Indeed but there Is a manifest God for
those who care TO look for Him"
Gambling House Impressions.
Among the documents are some rough
beginnings of a projected autobiography
written at Samoa, entirely different unde-
this title in the collected works The
longest OF these fragments describe.
Stevenson's youthful memories OF HON.
burg, which he visited In 1862.
Il heard first In Homburg the con.
tinuous ringing OF counted money on the
tables of "A gambling house. Sitting or
the terrace. | became suddenly aware OF
II with thrill of that pleasure of hearing
not yet forgotten fine band Of music
played there daily. and / have forgot the
music. but l think when ! come to lie
dying I shall still recall Gas ! do now)
the more delicate concert from within
IL CHANGED ! was to hear Il again snd vet
again in the course of my vagrant lie.
/ thought then already. as / still think
to-day. that there are few sounds 10 he
compared with 1t in nature. and II isa
singular thought to me now and In this
faraway place that the song OF the money
Is still going on in Europe. like the song
or the birds, perennial"