Grass Valley, June 18, 1859
My dearest Miss –
Just let me say,
that I’ve felt very sad,
at not receiving from yourself,
What always makes me glad.
You ask, perhaps, what that may be,
That from sad thoughts unfetter-
I answer that ’tis nothing less,
Than getting of a letter.
A letter from a lady, too,
A lady whom I prize,
A lady who, though never seen,
It is still before my eyes.
This seeming contrariness,
Is yet a fact most true,
For in the mind an image rests,
Esther – an image – you!
How came it there, I cannot tell,
No more than I can say –
Why comes the darkest hour of night
Just ere the break of day.
To whom it may concern, while lying down
And wrapt in soundest sleep.
We dream of things that, in their turn,
It will make us laugh or weep.
To the graves as with a chisel sharp
Upon the solid stone –
A fairer name, that seems e’er since
To be for me alone.
For me Alone – for me alone!
Kind Fate grant this behest,
And let my hank’ring spirit find
So coveted a rest
Only one thing I would ask more –
“Tis that thou woulds’t impart
The solid, lasting, joyful fact
That we are one in heart.
Esther and Edwin, grant kind Fate,
They may be join’d as one –
In heart, in mind, in thoughts, through life,
A heaven on earth begun.
Dear Esther, one more thing to ask –
That is – how soon shall we,
Be partners in all else as well
As in our.
E. F. D
If you can any way spare any time, please write me a letter soon. Without your helping hand, I feel lonesome indeed. Do write once more and oblige. Your E. F. D