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Latest revision as of 14:04, 28 July 2017

This transcription has not been verified by Special Collections Research Staff. Please also consult images of the document.


Letter from George Finley (Camped in Loudoun Cty.) to Rebecca Powell (Winchester, Va)


10 October 1861   (with envelope, which reads: Care of Miss Rebecca Powel Mr. Charles Powel Winchester Va/ Stamped LEESBURG VA OCT 14 1861)


Powell Papers - 65 P875, Box II, Folder 6


- - - - -


                                                                                                                                Camp Mississippi


                                                                                                                                Loudoun Co. Va.


                                                                                                                                                Oct 10th 1861


 


 


 


                        Miss Powell.  Pardon my presuming on my fortune, in being acquainted with yourself, to trespass on your time, and patience by boring you with a letter written on my knapsack, for a writing desk, and all the noise of the Camp ringing in my ears.


I believe I succeeded thoroughly in convincing you that "Yours Truly" was an eccentric character, and being really such I cannot


[2]


promise to explain that which I wish, in my prescribed form and in fact, I guess this epistle will stand out in bold relief without a precedent, or subsequent in Cupids annals.  Speaking of Cupid, brings me to Love regarding which subject, we had some what different ideas, at the only time the subject ever arose.


That love has no existence except in


[3]


the imaginations of dreaming - Castles-in-the-air - buildings of either sex, is proved too distinctly and vividly in the occurances of every day life, of each and every one, to render it necessary that examples be produced.


They (the Dreamers) suppose they Love and are Loved, and believe it to be an inspiration from Heaven (and for which no doubt Deity has been thanked) this Love has fled - gone - they know not where, and are painfully forced to believe, it had no existence, except in their own distorted fancies.


Such being the never-failing termination of Love would it not be better in_____ more permanent happiness to the descendants of Adam, as a whole, to have the word, or at least, the definition usually attached (and which I was guilty of a great while since) to it, banished from among us? 


If such were the case, how often would the shock caused by discovering what is called misplaced confidence, or affection would be spared us, or even the shock caused by discovering they (the Dreamers) had been so long laboring under a mental hallucination.


I do not (now) believe in the existence, not so much as an abstract form of the subjectioner, of the Myth called Love.


            But in its stead let me substitute the words Respect, admiration, appreciation, and consignment by


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kind of spiritual union, which might be resolved into Friendship, which latter sentiment has ever been regarded by all, except the infatuated, as the noblest and only pure sentiment which ever had a habitation in the "Human Mind Divine."


Respect, Admiration and Appreciation.


Respect for those noble traits of Character for which we are ever seeking, in each subject with which we come in contact, and for which we as long and ardently have sought - in vain, that we scarcely have confidence in their existence, till, when and where we least expect it we are surprised to find ourselves in an oasis of this vast Desert of Human imperfection which causes our involuntary admiration to burst forth in


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true appreciation of the core value of those coveted traits.


And having once found the rare jewel (mental superiority and moral worth) we hesitate to plunge again into the water, fearing the search for another, of equal worth, would only result in our own discomfiture, we naturally wish to appropriate the Gem we have seen to ourselves.  Miss Rebecca I do not wish to make a false statement to you, I have passed the time or age of youthful follies - I had begun to doubt the existence of any real worth in the whole Human Race.


            I saw you, as I saw others, but as time advanced, I discovered so much more to admire and respect, in you, than in others, and being able to properly appreciate, I am convinced, that, if there is ever to


[6]


be any happiness in the Future for me, it can only be by having that Future shared with yourself.


Not that your refusal will make me more miserable, but, to be shared with yourself, would pass over all the pain, which I now experience in being compelled to endure  life.  Will you accept me from your personal knowledge of myself, and in confidence in your own judgement, do you reject the whole suit, so shall it be referred to your Guardian, with references for myself?


If the latter I will immediately give the addresses, which I probably should now do, but I prefer to see how far you can depend on your own judgement.


Whatever may be your decision, or my fate during the war, I shall still hope for a place in your Memory.


[7]


If consistent let me hear from yourself, or Guardian, as soon as possible.


                                                                        Very Respectfully Yours,


                                                                        George Finley, O. S.


                                                                                                Co. G


 


Direct to care


Capt. McElroy


            13th Regt. Miss. Vol.