Norwich bulletin., 1922-06-03
Great Mems Love Letters
stedman to Laura Woodsworth


 A most interesting love story is
 that of Edmund Clarence Stedman, | the noted American poet and critic,
 and Miss Laura Wordsworth. When |
 Mir .StedTnanz came from college he |
 began writing for the Norwich "Trib- |
 une' Tn the printing office of the | paper was a young man, Horace
 Wordsworth, whose sister, a slender, l
 petite, daintily rounded, young girl, with black hair, large hazel eyes, and an unusually fine complexion, used to trip modestIy in and out to speak with her brother.
 The attractive, sweet expression. and the glowing beauty of Miss Woodsworth caught the alert eye of | the chief editor, as also that of his | partner, MT. Charles H. Platt the two
 having purchased the paper on No-
 vembeR 1T, 1852.
 | When the partners discovered that they were both in love with the
 charming Laura Wordsworth, they
 sent her joint letter requesting that l she make; choice between them,
 eacS, enclosing an individual letter and the one she would return was to understand such action as a rejection. l This was a. rather delicate situation l for the young lady as well as the. | partners. >This is the letter Miss l Woody as she was called by her ad- mirers, did not return:
 Dear Laura: cannot refrain from
 once calling you dear, when I think that it may be the last, and only time | I shall be allowed to do SO. You have read the joint letter of Mir. Platt and 1 myself. It remains for me to say a
 word to you. And if, in that word had the power to throw the most ten
 der affection and loye-love that has
 grown upon me every day since my
 life has been cheered by. your pres
 enoe, if I could breathe into that
 word a willingness to devote a life
 time to your happiness, and to cling to you and shelter you through all joy and sorrow, I should do no more
 than reveal to you the earnest pas ; sion which is beating at my heart
 And yet I fear that I have but little hope. You can hardly know me } you know but little of my past life or my future prospects. And MT, Platt , loves you, too. He is truly a fine man and will always be kind and tender to you. I feel his worth and l fear that my chance is small for syouI 7 flavor. But, dear Laura,A if you car . love me for myself and for my love 5 for you, offer you my whole hear : and hand. And if fervent attachment and a sincere pride ins the possession U of you, can make you happy, I pledge II them to you. You know that I an : ambitious. I need some dear one fol 5 whom to strive, and at whose feet z can lay all the laurels that may win 2 q almost dread to send this, fear . ing that it may be returned. I wan ;. to have you know me longer and bet :, ter, but it is necessary. as you vii ' readily understand, for me to speal ls at once There are many things tha ' should like to tell you, in relation ie to the future and to our mutual lives e were I so presuming as to be san guine of success. As it Is, can onl :. say again-dear Laura, can you lov
 me? In any case I shall ever be Y Your most devoted friend, Edmund c. Stedman.' |. Answering a soIicitous letter fror ;e his mother, received in 1857, whic 5s aroused Mir. Stedman, he tells his ow re story of this period
 aat I've have now been married thre years and half. At the date of oy .o union I was but twenty years ol fe and even more of a boy than al oe now. She had few friends and I ha !, none; and wanted one true one; so n liked to visit her. Then my partn' on or was in love with her and +here' WE vi. just enough rivalry about us to nal os me determine to supplant him. I b, II I gan to love her and have loved h, n more and more ever since. She is or ,,+ l of those rare women who Is by n; he tlire gentle folk and stepped so eai d. fly from the chair of a sewing gi ,s. to the sofa of a lady, that people sa n. that she was of noble birth and a. Ie- cepted her accordingly"
 ra Etedman and Laura Woodsworf ch were married on November 3. 1sE nd They lived together many years, MI e Stednan dying in 1905 and MT. Ste, oE man fcIlowing three years later