BRACERS Record Detail for 17199
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"Today was quite wonderful—I have never known such absolute happiness as we had." ... "The following is a geometrical proof in the manner of Spinoza of a proposition which it is important you should know.
Axiom I. The attraction between me and another person is directly proportional to the merit of the other person and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between us.
Axiom II. O. is an object of infinite merit.
Axiom III. The distance between O. and me is zero.
The pupil is expected to construct both the proposition and its proof from the above data, remembering that the letter O stands for "object". I have endeavoured to produce belief in the proposition by the intuitive method, which relies on its inherent obviousness, and by the inductive method, which points out the number of facts not explicable on any other hypothesis, but in the end the geometrico-deductive method will produce the desired result in the reader.
This letter is all nonsense—I am too happy for sense. Dearest it is all too wonderful for words—and there is no limit to it. I love you ever more and more."
BR TO OTTOLINE MORRELL, [19 JUNE 1911]
BRACERS 17199. ALS. Morrell papers #121, Texas
Proofread by K. Blackwell et al.
<letterhead>
Trinity College,
Cambridge.1, 2
In the train
Monday
My Dearest Heart
Today was quite wonderful — I have never known such absolute happiness as we had — If it did not mean your being ill, I should like better seeing you when you are in bed — you are more free from interruptions and it is nice to feel you are resting. I was very naughty about going — not about the Spaniards, because I wasn’t really very serious. But really it was wiser to wait till Dickinson had come. If I had gone at once I might have met him in the Square. And now you shall never know what Catullus says about the love-bite or how Hesiod describes its origin among the gods and goddesses or what learned professors have written about it in great tones — all this lore shall never be yours!
I shall try to see as many people as possible tonight and Wednesday and perhaps tomorrow night, so as to create the impression that I am continuously in Cambridge. I will arrive about 11.40 tomorrow. I wonder what Dickinson is saying to you.
The following is a geometrical proof in the manner of Spinoza of a proposition which it is important you should know:
Axiom I. The attraction between me and another person is directly proportional to the merit of the other person and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between us.
Axiom II. O. is an object of infinite merit.
Axiom III. The distance between O. and me is zero.
The pupil is expected to construct both the proposition and its proof from the above data, remembering that the letter O stands for “object”. I have endeavoured to produce belief in the proposition by the intuitive method, which relies on its inherent obviousness, and by the inductive method, which points out the number of facts not explicable on any other hypothesis, but in the end the geometrico-deductive method is the best. It is hoped this method will produce the desired result in the reader.
This letter is all nonsense — I am too happy for sense. Dearest it is all too wonderful for words — and there is no limit to it. I love you ever more and more.
Your
B.
