As we are both mortals, it would be affectation in me were I to profess to take upon myself all the blame, but I ask to bear my full share. The many who feel an interest in him are of more consequence than the few who know and love me; and henceforth I would have you deal with him only as a poet and author. Pronounce your judgment upon his books; know him by his epic heroes. No mortal man can go beyond himself in any conception; when he attempts to he only strikes against the border of his imagination, and rebounds further back. And when man attempts to image a god he takes a step back, and puts upon the shoulders of his god wings which belong to the lower order of creation. Good sometimes comes of evil; the most deadly pistil exhales a delicate perfume; and our separation and sorrows produced the poems of "Myrrh" and "Even So". If I have, after all, recovered my health, and sometimes smile, as others do, I feel that I have some kind of apology. If I am not today the shadowy, faded woman that might be expected, I beg pardon; and if, as a facetious editor writes, I must go down the stream of life alongside of Lady Byron, Mrs. Bulwer, and the obstreperous wife of the author of "Boz", let that be my punishment.
SALEM, NOV. 5, 1871.
This was her reply in poetry—and we can imagine her addressing him as she addressed him in verse to the winning of his love in her virginal Port Orford days:
To a Poet
From the New Northwest, November 24, 1871
By M.M.M.
Guilt-edged and softly tinted!
Read the Reviews? Ah! "Genius
Palpable, hidden and hinted."
