On the following day, Monday, June 13th, Mr. Kennelworth, Robert and
Walter arose early to be ready for Colonel Lindbergh's triumphant
march up Broadway. Robert was very enthusiastic about it and talked
about what a great achievement it was and what it meant to the world,
especially to the United States. Walter told him that they must get
busy and start to lay out the plans to build Robert's great airplane.
When they started out on the street, Robert began to talk of Marie
and said that he hoped that he would find her that day. Thru all the
surging crowds, he stared in the face of every woman, hoping that
Marie, if she was alive, might have decided to come to New York for the
Lindbergh reception. It was a great day for Colonel Lindbergh, and a
great day for Robert, because it encouraged his hope for the day, and
believed it would come to pass when airplanes would conquer the world
and bring universal peace. He felt that a state of perfection could
never be reached until the brotherhood of man, founded on love, was
established.
Walter told his father and Robert about a great play that he had been
to see: "One for All." He was anxious for them to see it and had
secured tickets for that night. Robert was immediately interested. He
was attracted to Molly and saw in her great sacrifice for Eric an
example of Marie. As the play neared the end, and Molly was in great
sorrow, and her secret sacrifice had become known to Eric, Robert could
restrain his emotions no longer. He turned to Mr. Kennelworth and said,
"I wonder if he'll be man enough to forgive her and appreciate her,
as the greatest woman in the world for him. Will his mind be broad
enough to realize that she made the supreme sacrifice because of her
unselfish love. Now that he has succeeded and has the world at his feet
will he turn from her and condemn her as the world usually does?" Mr.
Kennelworth said: "You can see that Eric is now weighing the matter in
his mind and is hesitating. We can only wait and see." Robert said,
"If Eric loves Molly as I love Marie he will now love her more after
this." Robert watched Eric with every muscle in his body tense, as
Eric read the receipt written by Chattox and also he watched Molly and
her expression as she leaned over the staircase and read the receipt
over Eric's shoulder. He saw Eric slowly fold the receipt around the
little booties for the baby and place them in his pocket and walk
slowly away. Robert was wondering what Eric was thinking of and what
his decision would be. Then came the final climax--Eric, after knowing
all, took Molly in his arms and gave her the kiss which Robert knew
meant forgiveness and understanding. He then realized that love, just
as Molly said in the beginning, was the greatest thing in the world,
and meant more than all the money in the world. Robert jumped to his
feet and shouted, "Hurrah for Eric," and said, "that's the kind of
love I have for Marie and no matter what may have happened or what she
should do in the future, my love is the kind which will understand,
forgive and forget." He told them how he was impressed with the story
in the Bible where the woman was brought before Jesus accused and how
the Jesus said, "Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone,"
and when they had all disappeared he said: "Woman, doth no man accuse
thee," and she answered, "No, Lord." Jesus said, "Neither do I. Go
your way and sin no more." Robert said when the world once realized
the great power of Love, that jealousy, enmity, all accusations and
the desire for personal gain, would pass away. That when Love alone
dominated the hearts of men and women, wars would be no more, and
that men would see no evil in their fellow-men as Eric saw no evil in
Molly's sacrifice but knew and understood that great love for him was
the motive that prompted her actions. Robert quoted Daniel 2:22:
"He revealeth the deep and secret things. He knoweth what is in the
darkness and the light dwelleth within him. A kingdom which shall
never be destroyed, consume all other kingdoms and stand forever."
He said that when the day came when men were ruled by the law of love
and understood each other, a kingdom would be established that would
never be destroyed, and that it would consume all other kingdoms.
Robert believed that the United States, the land of liberty, was
created never to be destroyed, and that it would eventually consume
all other nations and rule by the law of love and justice, that it was
God's will that it become the most prosperous country and the banking
nation of the world. Believed that the nation referred to in Psalms
147:20 was the United States:
"He hath not dealt so with any nation and as for his judgments they
have not known them. Praise ye the Lord."
Walter was not so enthusiastic and sure about the power of Love as
Robert. You can never tell what a woman will do, he said and referred
to Proverbs 30:18 and 19:
"There be three things which are too wonderful for me. Yea, four which
I know not,--the way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon
a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of a sea, and the way of a man
with a maid."
Walter said, "The last one is too much for me and I would not attempt
to discern the way of a maid without a man. They go where you know not
and return when you least expect it. Some wise woman once said, 'When
you know one man, you know all.' A wiser man said, 'You never know a
woman, for all women are different.'"
Robert said, "It is interesting to go back over history and read the
opinions of the smartest men in regard to woman. Confucius said,
'Woman is a masterpiece.' Michelet said, 'Woman is a miracle of divine
contradictions.' Lamartine said, 'There is a woman at the beginning
of all great things.' I am wholly in accord with him. Go back to the
bottom of every great achievement and back of it you will find the
influence of a good woman. It may be a mother, sister or sweetheart,
but the love of a woman is always the motive behind the great
achievements of men. Someone once said: 'Not for herself was woman
first created, nor yet to be man's idol, but his mate.' Pythagoras
said: 'There are in woman's eyes two sorts of tears, the one of grief;
the other of deceit.' I think that is because there are two kinds of
men, one who appreciates love and honor and gives sympathy; the other
kind who is selfish, expects something for nothing and must meet with
deceit. I am a great believer in sowing and reaping. We get out of life
just what we put into it. If we give love and faithfulness, the same
returns to us. Maeterlinck was right when he said: 'A man's sweetheart
is just as pure as his thoughts of her are pure.' I remember reading a
poem,
"What thou lovest, Man,
Become thou must,
God, if thou lovest God,
Dust if thou lovest dust.
Napoleon said, 'All the women in the world would not make me lose an
hour,' but history shows that Napoleon did lose sleep over his love
for Josephine. He wrote to her--'I am sick of men because they keep
me away from my love.' Shakespeare expressed it better than all the
rest when he said 'Kindness in woman, not their beauteous looks, shall
win my love.' A real womanly woman whose heart is filled with love,
cannot be other than kind because Kindness is a child of Love. Women
may be mysterious and we may fail to understand them. That is one of
the reasons why we love them all the more. Fontenelle said, 'There are
three things I have always loved and never understood--paintings, music
and women.' He might have added that the greatest of the three was,
woman."
Then Walter quoted from Southey, "'There are three things a wise man
will not trust, the wind, the sunshine of an April day and a woman's
plighted faith.'" Robert replied--"Nevertheless nearly every wise
man has loved and trusted some good woman and most of them have not
regretted it. Walter, you have never really been in love and you
don't know what love is. If you did, you would have faith and trust,
regardless of all conditions." "I guess the subject of love and women
is too deep for me," said Walter, "and the sooner you get down to
business and your studies and get love off your mind, the greater
success you are going to make." Robert answered, "Without love this
world would never have existed. It was God's love for the world that
saved it. My love for Marie will make me whatever I am to be in the
future. Without that love I know I would be a miserable failure. The
time will come when you will go to sleep at night with your last
thoughts of beautiful rosy lips, of eyes that shine like Golconda's
purest gems, of a voice that is sweeter than a nightingale, of
luxurious hair and of a form that to you is more beautiful than Venus,
and when you awake in the morning your first thoughts will be of her.
You will see her in the beautiful flowers, her face will be reflected
from the ripple of the pure waters; everything you think about she will
appear in connection with. Your slumbers will be disturbed. When you
get a fever like this, you will then know and understand the power of
love. Then nothing else will matter, only one thing will count in your
life--the woman you love. A great love like this must come to every
man. In the Springtime of life it may be, or in those sunny solaces of
the afternoon when the waning day brings sadness and man looks back
and longs for the time when he might have loved, when he was younger
and lived longer. Love is the elixir of life. It is a greater cure than
any medicine. It has built up kingdoms and destroyed nations. You have
ambitions now and a desire for gold, but after all, Walter, what can it
buy? All the gold in the world cannot buy the tender touch of a little
child's fingers or the lovelight in angel eyes like Marie's. It gives
satisfaction that nothing else can."
Walter said, "Robert, you always drift back to Marie and her eyes.
Those beautiful black eyes that you talk about may be wonderful, but
you remember the old saying, 'Can you be true to eyes of black or
brown, when blue has smiled on you?' You will find that a change will
come sooner or later if Marie doesn't show up and you will be the
better for it."
But Robert was sure that no eyes could ever take the place of Marie's
and Robert handed Walter the following poem to read:
HEAL THYSELF
If any brown-eyed girl has changed her mind
And left you sinking in the consommé,
Calmly smile and let her go, you'll forget about your woe--
(There's a lot of consolation to be found in eyes of gray.)
If any brown-eyed girl has left your heart
In forty-seven pieces at your feet,
Then the proper thing to do is to gaze in eyes of blue--
(And perhaps you'll find the same are twice as sweet.)
If any brown-eyed girl has given you
Your "exit cue," the "go-by" and "the air,"
And your heart in glad amaze'll heed the lure of eyes of hazel--
You can sing that song of Tanguay's, "I Don't Care."
If any brown-eyed girl has--well, she did;
Above, you'll find some good philosophy;
It may do for you, I guess, but I really must confess
It has never been a bit of use to me!
Ben Warren.
"The last verse expresses my sentiments to a T; no other eyes will ever
have any attraction for me except Marie's."
A few days after New York's reception to Colonel Lindbergh, Robert
decided to get down to business. He visited his brokers in Wall Street,
talked over the market situation and found that they did not agree
with his ideas and views. Decided to open an office at 69 Wall Street,
and Walter was to work with him when he had time from his studies.
They consulted about a stenographer or office assistant. Walter had
met Miss Edna Quinton, a very talented girl, whom he thought was the
most competent he had ever known, so Robert gave her a position in his
office.
Walter was anxious to keep Robert cheerful so went sight-seeing often
and to see all the latest plays. Robert was very much interested in the
play, "The Student Prince." Was impressed when the old servant told
the young King the old saying, "A promise keep, right well you sleep;
a promise break, all night you wake." Robert knew that this was what
caused the King to return to his former sweetheart, but when he gave
her up and married the Princess, he was disgusted and disappointed.
Told Walter that he would never break his promise for anyone; and knew
that if he did, he would never be able to sleep soundly again.