THE REPLY.
"MY DARLING FILLMORE: Words fail to express the happy effect of the
pleasing emotions that arise as I muse and dream, build castles in the
air and indulge myself, again and again, in the luxury of reading line
by line, the glowing tributes of love in your marvelous letter. I am
electrified by its wonderful logic, rythm and melody. Ah, my chosen one!
So manly; so noble; so true! The witchery of your eloquence is a
conquering force, that Cupid with his bow might well be proud of! My
heart rejoices under the influence of its magical spell! I am so happy
and so proud of you! The great deeps of my emotional nature have
responded to the poetical sublimity of your charmingly expressed
sentiments. They thrill my soul like the dawn of some glorious summer
day; like the exquisite perfume of a sweet flower; like that sublimely
sweet surprise which steals over the senses, while a fleecy veil of
silvery mist, responding to the power of the advancing king of day,
slowly rises and discloses the shoreless grandeur of that tidal mystery,
the majestic, restless, billowy bosom of Old Ocean; like some grand
symphony of masterful music, penetrating and resonant, with that
mysterious potency which awakens every echo of the soul's musical
possibilities! Yet, sweetheart, every word is charged with your personal
magnetism; is stamped with your individuality; freighted with the wealth
of your spiritual and intellectual development. In every line, sentence
and paragraph, I recognize you as my ideal of a lover, the dearest and
most noble of men!
"In my retrospective moods, the cloud of memories, born of the incidents
which have marked our past acquaintance, form a telescopic vista.
Through this vista, examined in the crucible of much correspondence, the
intimate association and the mutual friendship of many months duration,
I perceive that I have discovered and have learned to appreciate the
sterling worth of your character. Through this avenue I become conscious
that you represent to me the superior nobility of true American genius;
the highest and grandest type of manhood! Idealized as my hero, I place
you in the front rank of America's dominant thinkers; a peer among
peers, both potential and progressive--yet withal so modest, so free
from dogmatism.
"I seem to feel intuitively that you are standing at the very beginning
of a new cycle in the history of our planet: a cycle in which symmetry
of mind and power of brain, fix the standard by which nature selects the
leaders she deems most worthy of ruling the destinies of her people. I
feel that you have been measured by such a standard, and chosen as the
instrument for the accomplishment of a special work of the utmost
importance!
"This bit of hero-worship on my part is due, no doubt, to the intensity
of my devotion to our Republic; to the earnestness of my convictions in
regard to its manifest destiny as a saving power--an uplifting
force--among the nations of the earth. These growing convictions are
emphasized by the keener perceptions of my spiritual nature, which
declare that this almost resistless force which dominates our Republic,
that may be likened to the world's storage battery, is due to the
progressive power gained by the universal enlightenment of the American
people as a mass. This important thought seems to emphasize the wisdom
and the importance of universal education.
"I must now refer to a matter mentioned in your letter, in which I am
particularly interested. In declining to become jealous of the bevy of
titled lords, who pay fawning court to my wealth and social position,
here in Washington, you do yourself justice; while at the same time, you
pay me the compliment of a lifetime! When compared with you, how puny
and feeble are the princes and titled lords, made by kings and courts,
in lands where selfishness reigns supreme at the expense of millions of
unfortunate subjects! An impecunious host of these fortune-hunting lords
swarm in the society of our large cities. With faded titles of doubtful
value, as their only stock in trade, they fittingly represent the
decaying nobility of passing monarchies. They are looking for victims!
They become the highly honored guests of selfish, title-crazy,
match-making mothers! Oh the pity of it! Oh the shame of it! How
American girls, who are born to wealth, with all of the advantages which
wealth may command, including the best education possible in this land
of progressive liberty; who should love devotedly the vital principles
of our democracy;--can be so dazzled by the false glitter of a title,
that they deliberately choose to mate themselves (and their riches,)
with such sorry specimens of lordliness; such brainless, nerveless
bundles of selfishness, is something too monstrous for my comprehension!
"Are these girls really Americans at heart? Do they represent the women
of our land? Can they understand or appreciate the privilege as a
birthright, of proudly taking an honored part in the coming motherhood
of this great and progressive land of republican liberty; a republic
which to day stands as the hope of the world? Is it possible that they
can knowingly wish to become mothers of a feeble race of puny
children--children who are cruelly bereft of moral, physical and
intellectual vigor by the tainted heritage which, like some avenging
nemesis, through the action of an inexorable law, surely follows the
unfortunate offspring of lordling fathers, who are born as the very
dregs from twenty generations of the vice and depravity of kingly
courts?
"My dear Fillmore, to these interrogatories I answer, No! A thousand
times No! Ignorance! A shameful ignorance of the true object and purpose
of human life, on the part of these misguided girls, is their only sin.
They are well-nigh hopelessly ignorant of the significance, or even the
existence, of the great basic truths of evolutionary life. They know not
that each age in the series of evolution grows out of the preceding one;
that each in its order is the parent of the next; that the same is true
of each generation of people. In the midnight darkness of their
ignorance, they are incapable of knowing that virtue inherently
possesses the germ of perpetuity. They can neither understand nor heed
the warning cry of history, which proves that crime and depravity have
in themselves the seeds of natural death. They have never read
history's tragic story of the total extinction of the royal houses of
Capet, Valois, Tudor, Stuart and Bourbon;--a story which demonstrates so
conclusively the avenging results that follow the crimes of royal
fathers.
"To redeem these girls from such dense ignorance; to rescue them from
the thralldom of such a fashionable sin, which threatens to become a
fad; to open their eyes to the horrible consequences which follow such
misalliances, is a work so important as to demand the immediate
attention and united effort of a host of America's patriot mothers.
"Pardon me, dear Fillmore, for devoting so much space in my letter to
this particular topic. I feel sure you will kindly excuse any excess of
fervor which may have marked the expression of my indignation. Because
you so well understand the intensity of my devotion to the broadly
progressive principles of our matchless republic, you may, consequently,
guess the full measure of my scorn for this foolish, title-hunting class
of creatures who, like silly moths, blindly sacrifice themselves in
folly's funereal flame. The bare idea of marriage to gain a foreign
title has always been exceedingly repugnant to me. With passing years, I
am each day more thankful that since my early childhood there has been
buried deep in my heart, a determination that when the time came for me
to select a husband, the only title of the one chosen should be the
stamp of honor which marked him as a true type of an American citizen--a
real American genius; a truly noble soul, perfectly and beautifully
expressed by a harmonious combination of physical and intellectual
development!
"Fortunate the day for me when that lucky advertisement brought you to
my side, as a trusty, capable co-worker, whom I have learned to
respect, to admire and to love. My dreams have been realized. I have
found my ideal. You may fearlessly trust in the absolute truth of your
assertion that 'the compass of my love is constancy!'
"Now my hero! My ideal of a gallant Knight of Most Excellent
Agriculture, whose nodding plumes, of tassels of corn, artistically
interwoven with splendid pompons of waving wheat, barley, oats and rye
have so dazzled my eyes and charmed my heart; having chanted my song of
love, I hasten to assure you that your last report concerning the
administration of the affairs of the farm, has pleased me greatly. I
think the progress achieved in so short a time, is truly marvelous! Only
my Fillmore could have accomplished so much! I am full of curiosity
about the details. When I come, you must be prepared to answer a host of
questions; to go with me on many excursions of discovery before I shall
have completed my tour of agricultural investigation.
"I approve of the disposition you have made of my portrait. Of course my
personal pride is gratified by the sincere admiration and praise it has
excited. I am happy in the knowledge that it has proved so efficacious
as a talisman of good fortune for the farm. I think I understand your
reasons for the feeling that my individuality should be in some way
directly interwoven with the destiny of the farm.
"Reasoning from the peculiar environments which so affect our lives, I
realize more fully each day that my personal interest in every step
toward its final success, must necessarily be quite equal to your own.
"I am delighted with the idea of being present at your first Arbor day
celebration. I hope there is to be in the order of exercises an oration
which you are to deliver. If so, I know you will not disappoint me! I
am prepared to prophesy that you will do yourself justice, do credit to
Solaris and at the same time you will cover the subject with a halo of
glory. Such a result seems assured when I consider the extraordinary
interest which was aroused by your lectures on forestry. This signal
conquest of your eloquence has gratified my pride very much. I am
strongly impressed with the vast importance of this tree-planting
school, which you are about to institute at Solaris. The success which
you have won in the preliminary work is so promising, that I am sure you
have undertaken a task which is worthy of your genius. In my judgment,
you have already demonstrated your ability to accomplish many wonderful
things. Great opportunities are before you. By the force of your logic,
by the earnestness of your eloquence, you will be able to instill and to
permanently fix in the minds of our people--both parents and
children--the true progressive principles of American citizenship. You
will thus enable them to perceive the serious import of the
responsibilities which, like a mantle of power, descends upon them, as
the representative working units of this great republic. You can so
inspire them that they will be eager and proud to take up with honor the
burden of these responsibilities. You can so change and elevate the
lives of these people and a multitude of others, that first they shall
become masters of themselves; later, masters of the republic; through
the controlling force, the imperial dominancy of scientifically
developed, symmetrical minds; whose intellectual, ethical,
inspirational, logical and constructive power, combined as an elevating
agency, shall raise the republic of the future to still more commanding
heights. To accomplish these things, is the glorious beginning of a
great career! In visions of your life work, it comes to me that this
preparatory work on the farm is but the introduction to a more important
mission, in the vastly wider field of a near future. In this coming work
we shall stand side by side. Hand in hand, with hearts united by the
bonds of a supreme love, we shall go forth armed with the power to
overcome and to conquer the great hosts of ignorance and selfishness
which so hinder the world's progress.
"Really, my true love, although this letter is so long, I cannot close
it without again expressing my appreciation of your soul-satisfying
letter; so laden with the fragrance, the benediction of your love; so
potent with the charm of happiness for me. To its benign influence my
heart responds by the awakening of the highest and best emotions of my
spiritual nature. Written in clear, plain English, it appeals to me as a
letter of such sterling intelligence as only my ideal of a lover could
write. How different it is from the soft, sweet nonsense of fashionable
fops; the effusive gush of poetical dudes.
"Now, I must say to you Good bye, my sweetheart! Remember that waking or
dreaming, I love you truly. Only you, so dear to me--you, so generous,
so noble, so good. Bright are the links of love's golden chain which
time cannot sever. Constancy, our love shall bless, now and forever. May
the sweet guardian spirits who guide your footsteps, keep you safely
until we meet again, is the ever-present thought which is inspired by
love's whisper in the heart of your devoted,
"FERN FENWICK."