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Show Hubbard's New Wife Fra Elbertus Puts Up Rich Doggerel. . Have you seen "White Hyacinths?" It Is a song from Albert Hubbard to his wife, an eulogy of "the'only woman wom-an he ever loved," and as he says, not "a tombstone testimonial," but "a simple tribute of truth." No matter what we may think of the domestic relations of Fra Elbertus of ttye clan of East Aurora, we cannot deny that he Is remarkably and uniquely unique-ly frank concerning them, and the best exemplification of this freak of his make-up, is found In his "White Ilyacinths." 1 He has loved his wife for seventeen long) cars thouRh he has been married mar-ried to her but live, the romance beginning be-ginning years ago when the prcsebt Mrs. Hubbard, who was Alice Moore, was on a visit to her sister In Boston. Hubbard was married at tho time, but that seemed to make no "particular "particu-lar difference to them, and she became a mother. Hubbard finally obtained a divorce from his first wife and married Miss Moore. Hubbard says of her: "In way of mental reach, sanltv, sympathy and all-round ability, she outclasses any woman of history, ancient an-cient or modern, mentally, morally and spiritually. "To make a better woman than Alice Al-ice Hubbard," he adds, "one would have to take the talents and graces of many great women and omit their faults. If she Is a departure 'in some minor respects from a perfect standard, stand-ard, It Is probably because she lives In a faulty world, and deals with faulty folks, a few of whom, doubtless, will peruse this article. "Right tiere, of course, I hear jou say, 'but love Is blind, or at least myopic, my-opic, and every man who has loved, says what you are saying now. The nature of love is exaggeration, and to take a woman and clothe her with ideality, this is love.' And you speak wisely. But let me here explain that while the saltness of time In my ego has not entirely dissolved, I hae reached a time in life when feminine society Is not an actual necessity. "I am at an ago when libertines turn saints, and rogues become religious. relig-ious. "However, I have never gone the pace, and so I am neither saint nor ascetic, as-cetic, and the eternally feminine Is not now, and never was to me a consuming con-suming lure. ' "And while the tlush of impetuous youth, with Its unreasoning genius of the armour senilis, and 'never can be, since world problems, not sensations, (111 my dreams and flood my hours " Hubbard's adulation begins with a preface which reads: - "So here cometh ' White Hyacinths being a book of tho heart by Elbert Hubbard." nis picture follows and so does hers, and then his devotion comes afresh. He says: "When Charles Klngsley was asked to name the secret of hi, success, he repllei1: 'I had a friend.' "1 asked the same question 1 wouNd give the same answer. ) "1 might also explain that my friend is a woman. "This, woman Is my wife, legally and otherwise. "She is also my comrade, my champion, champ-ion, my chum, my business partner. "Theio.haslongbeenasusp'cUulhat when God said, 'I will make a helpmeet help-meet for man'.lhe remark was a subtle bit of sarcasm. "However, tho woman of whom I am speaking proves what God tan do when ho concentrates on his work. "My wife Is my helpmeet, and I am hers. I don't support her, rather, she supports me. All I have is hers not only do I trust her with ray heart, but with my pockctbook, And what I here wrlto Is not a toombstone testimonial, testi-monial, weighted With a glgantlo sense of loss, but a simple trlbuto of truth to a woman who Is yet on earth In full possession of her powers, her star still In the ascendant. "Having such a wife as this, 1 do not chase the ghosts of dead hopes through the graveyard of my dreams. "In my wife's mind I see my thoughts enlarged and reflected, Just as In a telescope we behold the stars. She Is the maglo mirror la which I see the divine, ner mind acts on mine, and mine reacts upon hers. Mosteertalnly I am aware that no one else can see the same In her which I behold, because be-cause no one else can call forth her. qualities, any more than any other woman can call forth mine. "Our minds, separate and apart, act together as one, forming a complete binocular, making plain that which to one alone Is Invisible. "Now there be those, wise in their world's affairs, who may 'say, evidently evident-ly this man Is a victim of the gum-willles. gum-willles. Love, like all othci things, has Its limit. A month of close contact con-tact usually wears oil the new, and captivity reduces the butterfly to a grub. "Hence, I here mako the explanation explana-tion that 1 have known this woman for twenty years. I have written her over 3,000 letters, and she has written as many to me. "Every worthy theme and sentiment senti-ment I have expressed to the public has been first expressed to her, or, more likely, borrowed from her, I have seen her In almost every possible exlgeocy of life In health, success, and high tone; In poverty, and what the world calls disgrace and defeat, But here I should explain that disgrace dis-grace Is for those who accept disgrace,, and defeat consists in acknowledging It." 1 |