and self-sacrifice and fidelity. Its chief value for art (the
interpreter) lies not in itself, but in its quickening relation to the
other elements of life. It must be seen and shown in its due proportion,
and in harmony with the broader landscape.

Do you believe that in all the world there is only one woman specially
created for each man, and that the order of the universe will be
hopelessly askew unless these two needles find each other in the
haystack? You believe it for yourself, perhaps; but do you believe it
for Tom Johnson? You remember what a terrific disturbance he made in the
summer of 189-, at Bar Harbor, about Ellinor Brown, and how he ran away
with her in September. You have also seen them together (occasionally)
at Lenox and Newport, since their marriage. Are you honestly of the
opinion that if Tom had not married Ellinor, these two young lives would
have been a total wreck?

Adam Smith, in his book on THE MORAL SENTIMENTS, goes so far as to say
that "love is not interesting to the observer because it is AN AFFECTION
OF THE IMAGINATION, into which it is difficult for a third party to
enter." Something of the same kind occurred to me in regard to Tom and
Ellinor. Yet I would not have presumed to suggest this thought to either
of them. Nor would I have quoted in their hearing the melancholy and
frigid prediction of Ralph Waldo Emerson, to the effect that they would
some day discover "that all which at first drew them together--those
once sacred features, that magical play of charm--was deciduous."

DECIDUOUS, indeed? Cold, unpleasant, botanical word! Rather would I
prognosticate for the lovers something perennial,

"A sober certainty of waking bliss,"

to survive the evanescence of love's young dream. Ellinor should turn
out to be a woman like the Lady Elizabeth Hastings, of whom Richard
Steele wrote that "to love her was a liberal education." Tom should
prove that he had in him the lasting stuff of a true man and a hero.
Then it would make little difference whether their conjunction had been
eternally prescribed in the book of fate or not. It would be evidently a
fit match, made on earth and illustrative of heaven.

But even in the making of such a match as this, the various stages of
attraction, infatuation, and appropriation should not be displayed too
prominently before the world, nor treated as events of overwhelming
importance and enduring moment. I would not counsel Tom and Ellinor,
i