| Show j fat 1 L ct j j I I LETTER LETTER LETTER- FROM FROM LESLIE PRESCOTT PRESCOTT PRESCOTT PRES- PRES COTT TO THE LITTLE MARQUISE MARQUISE MARQUISE MAR MAR- QUISE CARE OF THE SECRE DRAWER Well VeU Its It's all over and the memories memories mem mem- ories aries of oC It are put away in the safety deposit vault little Marquise I dont don't know when I 1 shall shaU take It out again I have closed the first book of my life me which has been passed in Albany All that I have written to you all my thoughts all aU my problems all my hopes and fears all aU my Joys and sorrows In fact all the first years of my married married mar mar- ried nod life Ute I am putting away I am starting on a new path which promises promIses promises prom prom- to be one very different from the last Have I learned anything from the thelast thelast thelast last four tour years I dont don't know It almost seems to me that I am Just Justas as much a creature of at moods and Impulses of at little Jealousies and trivial prejudices as I always alwa's have been There is however one thing that I have learned little Marquise and learned thoroughly Love does not change character Character Is something of slow growth Character Charac Charac- ter can be changed no more by love than It can be changed by re re- re ligion I think perhaps that I am growing growIng growing grow grow- ing more tolerant and I am almost sure that Jack is growing more thoughtful but neither of us has reached anything near the tolerance or thoughtfulness that we have been taught to believe bellev would come to us Immediately through a great love I am an old married woman now with two children I have passed out of the romance of marriage long ago In fact my romance was shattered early and I have found that life Ufe is very different from tram that of or which I 1 dreamed I am nm leaving this place where the beginning of at my married life Ufe was spent seeking not thrills not passionate love not even a a. great eat love E but contentment I want to be contented with con I know that one should never be contented with attainment and I am still seeking something which perhaps will come to m me m. sometime when I am old and paa paz and cold and sensible I J Four years ago when I married Jack I did not have much of an Idea of what lay before me I only knew that when he was with meI felt the thrill of his presence all through my ny being I wanted to tobe b with th him always I begrudged every moment that he had to b be b. away from me Although I did n not t know It I think I was Jealous of his time I liked to raise my eyes t this tit ta his and find admiration there I I liked to nestle In his arms and find tenderness there I liked to hear him speak and find a caress cares In each word Until one morning when I found that I was wall not my husbands husband's first love I had not had room In my heart for Cor a jealous thought Until I woke up after th the motor accident and found little Jack Jackin in fn my arms I had not the slightest conception of what a woman must mutt feel teel toward a a. helpless little human mite that has been given Into her care I J Until then all my world had been in Jacks Jack's love for tor me Since then I I found that world orld one of ot great illusions and they faded out and then came back and faded out again until I do dp not know whether the Illusion which is in my brain and soul loul is Js the reality or that the material things thing which are about me every ery day are anI only real 1 Copyright 1925 1923 NEA EA Sen Service Ser fee Inc Tomorrow This letter continued con con- j l |
