Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
LETTERS. 263
speakable happiness in lonely hearts, shedding brightness
over existence, over earthly and heavenly things, over the
present and the future, making the heart burn with love
and praise. But of these joys, the purest, warmest mo-
ments of love, of loving hearts — moments when tears drop
upon smiling lips, and one desires nothing more than to
sacrifice one’s self in order to prove one’s faith and love —
give an idea. But these blooming moments in man’s life
become shorter and shorter with advancing years. Some-
thing worldly adheres to them, dragging them down to.
earth or arresting their pinions. Like the Sylphide, in the
ballet of the same name, the wings fall off and they die
smothered in reality’s cold embrace. What of this human
Psyche can liberate itself from this embrace, gains new
life with immortal wings and with rays which are not ex-
tinguished ; it belongs not to a natural, but to a supernatural
love. Happy they who in wedlock are able to develop and
to preserve this latter. Then love is “born of God.” If
you wish to see what woman’s life of love can be, you must
read “ Les Confessions de St. Thérése ” and then ask your-
self how many happy lovers in their earthly circumstances
can speak of such joys in such terms. And those joys —they
are not dependent on contingencies ; they are full of hope
and promise, and presentiment of eternal life; they do not
wane, but become rather more intense with advancing
age.
What our unmarried women, both young and old in
Sweden, are still much in need of in general, is freedom,
and full consciousness of its value, and of their own capa-
bility of turning the same to practical account. A noble
independence, self-reliance, and trust in God, constitute the
first condition for all higher development and happiness.
In every thing which I have written, I have labored for
this ; but I hope that before I die my labor shall leave a
more coniplete result. Herceforth I shall more concen-
trate my powers; more exclusively live for this aim.
x
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>