The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-10-08
QUEER AFFiNITIE:S.
Love Plays Some Curious Franks
with Human Hearts.
ROUSSEAU AND HIS THERESA.

| Story OF a Genius VINO Wedded an ~
norant Kitchen Maid and Never Re-
| eretted It-BuIwer Lytton's Tragic
| Observation-Disclosures and Fate.
Some afFinities really defy eXplana-
ton. Take Rousseau as an instance.
a distinguished writer has said:
in the whole story of the human
race question If there is anything so
wonderful as the prolonged affection or
Rousseau for Theresa"
| Here was one OF the outstanding lit
erary geniuses of his time, man VINO
| could talk on equal terms Mt least Wild
| the most brilliant women Of his day.
| marrying kitchen maid, who never
| could be taught to read with ease, VINO
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 stili
unable to read the hours on the clock
| face.
Theresa lie Vasseur could never have
given Rousseau one hour of true COM
panionsbip. 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
five years Rousseau could write TO her:
II never had, my dearest, other than
one single solace, but that the sweet.
est, 1t was to pour out all my heart
in yours. My every resource, my whole
confidence is in you, and in you only"
Here was mystery indeed.
Bulwcr 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 a wretched
housekeeper The marriage ended mis-
erably, and all through her life Lady
Lytton pursued her husband with the
Gercest rancor. She published book
after book in which she held him up
as monster and did everything in her
power to render his life unhappy
She made herself the heroine of
most extraordinary episode on the day
when Lyrton then colonial secretary,
| was reelected by his Hertfordshire
lie was in the middle
Of his address when there advanced a
female with rougcd face and dyed
hair. brandishing yellow umbrella.
Mounting the hastings, Lady Lytton-
for it was Substituted the newly made
minister with:
"Fiend, villain. monster, coWardly
wretch, outcast., am told you have
been sent TO the colonies. IL they
lkriew AS much about you rs do they
would have sent you there long ago.?
For once Lytton's presence Of mind
failed him, or, rather, he tainted, ana
knew no more till he found himself
back at Knebworth in bed. Husband
and wife had not seen each other for
twenty two years before this, and they
! never met again.
Probably the most mysterious OF all
| marriages was that of Tschaikoysky,
the great Russian composer, whose
Pathetic" symphony is such favor
Fite in the concert room today. Tschal-
koysky was a moody, pessimistic, shy,
| reserved man. AS he said himself, he
had lived for thirty-seven years in
antipathy TO marriage" and then was
! made bridegroom by sheer force OF
circumstances without being in the
least charmed by the bride" 1t Is one
of the queerest stories Imaginable, us
| told by Tschaikovslly 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
| iude. Later when he had thought II
over he feared that Antonina might
make way with herself, so he Went
\ 80 see her agnin. pleaded his irritaDii-
| ity, his uncertain finances, his antlpa'
thy to matrimony, and then asked her
| If, after all this, she still wished to De
| his wife.
Her answer was Yes" TschaikoV-
sky bowed before the inevitable, as he
| regarded 1t.
MY conscience is clear" he wrote.
IF l marry without loving it 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 gri
was fatality"
The marriage took place in 1877, ana
| the pair lived together barely three
weeks. Tschaikovsky got into a state
| Of nervous collapse, and his mind was
more or less unhinged. The doctors de-
cared that a 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 you!
Need we wonder that the Pathetic
symphony is so pathetic ?-J. Cuthbert
Hadden In London Family Herald.
Down From Confuoius.
The seyenty-6fth lineal descendant OF