The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1915-10-01
QUEER AFF|N|T|Es.
Love Plays Some Curious Franks
With Human Hearts.
ROUSSEAU AND HIS THERESA.
Story of q Genius Who Welded an Ig-
norant Kitchen Maid and Never Re-
aretted lt-Buiwer lytton's Tragic
Union-Tschaikows and Fate.

Some amn1tleS really deIy explana-
tion. Take Rousseau as an instance.
A distinguished writer has said:
'In the whole story Of the human
race question II there is anything so
wonderful as the prolonged affection Of
Rousseau for Theresa"
Here was one OF the outstanding lit
erary geniuses Of his time, a man who
could talk on equal terms at least with
the most brilliant women Of his day,
marrying a kitchen maid, who never
could be taught to read with ease, who
could not follow the order Of the twelve
months Of the year or count a sum OF
money or reckon the price OF thing
Even a months instruction left her still
unable to read the hours on the clock
face.
Theresa lie Vasseur could never have
panionship. She could neither have
read his books nor have understood
him when he explained them. She was
even without beauty and grace. Yet
this mighty spirit chose her, loved her
and went on loving her. The alliance
lasted happily, for by some mysterious
spell she held him, and after twenty
flve years Rousseau could write to her:
II never had, my dearest, other than
one single solace, but that the sweet
est. It was to pour out all my heart
in yours. My every resource, my whole
confidence is In you. and In you only"
Here was a mystery indeed.
Bulwer LyttOn, the novelist, provid'
ed another Of the matrimonial mystic
ries. Lytton was one Of the sanest
men in ordinary matters, but he was
foolish enough to marry vulgar girl,
Rosina Wheeler, who proved to be
wasteful, improvident and wretched
housekeeper. The marriage ended mis-
erably, and all through her life Lady
Lytton pursued her husband with the
fiercest rancOr. She published book
after book In which she held him up
as q monster and did everything In her
power to render his life unhappy.
She made herself the "heroine" Of a
most extraordinary episode on the day
when Lytton, then colonial secretary,
was reelected by his Hertfordshire
constituents. He was In the middle
Of his address when there advanced a
female with rouged face and dyed
hair, brandishing yellow umbrella.
Mounting the hustings, Lady Lytton-
for It was Substituted the newly made
minister with:
"F1end, villain, monster, cowardly
wretch, outcast! am told you have
been sent to the colonies. II they
knew as much about you as ! do they
would have sent you there long ago!
For once Lytton's presence of mind
failed him, or, rather, he tainted, and
knew no more till he found himself
back at Knebworth In bed. Husband
and wife had not seen each other for
twenty-five years before this, and they
never met again.
Probably the most mysterious OF all
marriages was that Of Tschaikovsky,
the great Russian composer, whose
Pathetic symphony Is such favor
kovsky was moody, pessimistic, shy,
reserved man. As he said himself, he
had lived for thirty y-seven years "in
antipathy to marriage" and then was
'.made bridegroom by sheer force or
circumstances without being In the
least charmed by the BRIDE 1t Is one
Of the Queerest stories imaginable, as
told by Tschaikovsky himself.
He says that one day he received
letter from a poor girl whom he had
known for some time. She declared
her love for him In the most passionate
terms. He went the next evening to
see her and told her that he could give
her nothing but sympathy and graft
tude. Later when he had thought IL
over he feared that Antonlna might
make way with herself, so he went
to see her again, pleaded his irritabil-
ity, his uncertain finances, his anHpa-
thy to matrimony, and then asked her
II, after all this, she still wished to be
his wife.
Her answer was Yes" Tschaikov-
sky bowed before the inevitable, as he
regarded It
"My conscience Is clear" he wrote
"If l marry without loving 1t Is be-
cause circumstances have forced this
upon me. / console myself with the
thought that no one can escape his
fate, and my meeting with that girl
was fatality"
The marriage took place In 1877, and
the pair lived together barely three
weeks. Tschaikovsky got into state
Of nervous collapse, and his mind was
more or less unhinged. The doctors de-
clared that complete change was his
only chance, and the poor wife never
saw him or heard his voice again after
he said hoarsely to her at the railway
station: "Now go! God be with your
Need we wonder that the Pathetic"
symphony In so pathetic?-J. Cuthbert
Hadden In London Family Herald.
N--f..~...s