The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1921-12-08

The Value Of Literhture In Develop
ing the Emotions.

n. ~. Alien OF Latta. chester Reporter
1t is very commonplace fact
that practically every man and wo~
man and every boy and girl Is in love
at sometime during their respective
lives. Ali have alike been created so
that they fall under the universal
sway OF that all-compelling power
sooner or later. No one would at any
time like to make the rather unfor-
tunate admission that he or she had
never at any time during their lives
been In love. Some people would pre-
tend to be rather reluctant to admit
that they had ever had such q COM
monplace experience. Yet to deny
having had such an experience is to
really make q self-admission that they
had not had the qualities that make
them attractive to some one. It would
be tantamount to an admission that
they were hopelessly mediocre. ire
vccably commonplace. and without
that power ne cessary to win the re-
gard Of some one. To have loved and
lost is a far more endurable fate than
to have never loved or been loved at
all.
And yet while all human beings
are subject to the thrall of love,
there are few who ever make 1t
their interest to study the vast liter
ature that has built up around this
extremely fascinating subject. Let
some one advertise lecture under
the title "How To Be Happy Tho
Married" and the last seat will be
taken and the Standing Room Only"
sign will be hung out. People are
willing to take the word Of some
itinerant lecturer or some peripate-
tic reformer upon this subject, but
they never open their minds to the
vast treasurers of literature which
deal with this subject. 1t is quite
true that many people read and en-
ioy the finest love poetry but the -e-
grottcble fact is that those are
- III minority.
~ -"es without saying that the
lives of the great lovers of history
are the most inspiring of all biog
graphies. Once a preacher let me in
tspect volume of a set of books in
his library entitled Love Affairs of
Great Men," and it proved to. be one
of the most fascinating of all the
books on biography that I have ev-
er seen. No boy or girl could read
those fascinating accounts without
roali2ing that after all Love was
something to be taken seriously
Never shall 1 forget the accounts of
the love affairs OF that great polit-
cal wizard of France Gambetta. To
have browsed over the volume was
privilege that I shall be very slow
in forgetting.
1t would enhance our appreciation
Of Dante's great poem 1.-THE Inferno"
IL we were aware of the fact that it
is titanic monument to his sweet
heart Beatrice. The magnificent
works of Goethe would unfold their
hidden beauties to us more readi-
ly II we knew through his biography
of his numerous love affairs. The
most interesting book that one could
read is one entitled 'Love Letters of
Great Men and Women for therein
we would havt revealed to us the
deepest sentiments of the human
heart. To have unfolded to us the
profoundest depths of human emo
ton could not but purify our spirits.
ennoble our minds, and create with
in us a deeper and firmer. resolve to
love worthily and still more worthi-
ly should that experience fall to us.
Sometime ago 1t was my exquisite
pleasure to translate from the
French that delightful little memior
of Remains entitled my Sister Hen
rietta." There is something re-
markable about the love that Re-
mans sister bore for him. At times
It seemed to me that she loved her
brother more than his wife was ever
capable of. At any rate, she shall
go down in history along with Mary
Lamb as one Of those sisters who
devotedly loved a brother. Could
every sweetheart love sweetheart as
Henrietta lover her brother. could
every husband and wife approximate
the wonderful love that this devot-
ed sister bore for her brother. the di-
vorce mills would cease forever to
grind.
A great German critic has said
that Elizabeth Barrett and Ro-
ert Browning were the most perfect
lovers In the history OF the world.
Their beautiful love lasted until
death. When Elizabeth Harrell rea-
lized that she loved Robert Brown
ing with all the depth of her being,
she composed those wonderful Son
nets in The Portuguese. For some time
she did not even let Browning see
them but when he did see them he
pronounced them pure poetry. Time
and criticism have verified the YER
dict Of the rapturous lover. To drink
In these sonnets can not but purify
the fountains Of mortal love. they