I love my bookmark!
Delightfully dearest Patricia:
My pleasure was unbounded - beyond words to describe to have your call on me this afternoon and share your thoughts, and to let me see you in the act of growing to be a finer young woman, a person who cannot see you for what you are - one of the most honest straight thinking persons the land has ever brought forth on this earth - is benighted indeed - too impoverished in soul to know the depths in which he operates. He who cannot sense your beauty of person and spirit is blind to beauty. Your beauty is transcendental and he who cannot appreciate this will miss forever an enrichment that he has little chance of exposure to a second time in a life time! If he knew the enormity of his conceit, he would be shaken to his roots!
Though I love you for the vibrant personality you are, and treasure the trust you place in me - a trust that I believe is steadily growing - I feel so honored and privileged in being accepted into close relationship with you, that often I feel (to make a “switcheroo” with Wordsworth) like a pilgrim - “breathless with adoration” as he approaches his goddess. I would do for you all things that man could do, and take eternal joy in the doing. I would shield you from any and all serious harm that could would you and really hurt you, [page 2] the while I would hope for you the little minor hurts inconsequential to a superior soul that serve the purpose of learning and pointing the way, to a discerning mind such as yours, to the developments that will strengthen you and refine you in all respects, so that you can shower your blessings of sympathy, understanding and kindness all around, but most of all on those who need them most. For them, you will be the ray of sunshine - the human rainbow in a stormy sky (so often evil) that brings peace and courage to troubled hearts.
I am sure you understand what I am trying to say. I am deeply sincere and I really believe that one can lead a charmed life in a mundane world. Certainly I know that I lead a charmed life in a world of too often insensate people who do not know what takes place in their very mindset.
You have a great gift, Patricia, one that has helped many persons of any or all races, creeds, colors, and social backgrounds. I can think of no greater good that can befall me than to live long enough to see you realize the potentials of this gift. On the strength of it, you can go anywhere in the world you wish, among any people, be beloved and trusted and borne up with happiness, looked to for guidance and example. And I hope to survive and retain a relationship with you such that I can have [page 3] something of a share in making your success possible.
In summary, though I cherish you as a companion and equal, and delight in this - last night I feel opened doors for me that perhaps even you have been hesitant heretofore to open - doors to the green fields and sunny skies which only a treasured friend can reveal to another. When it’s raining “pitchforks and baled hay” and I’m in your company, I see only violets! I adore you. Please don’t say me nay. Just accept my adoration as one friend to another on whom he has bestowed the gift of a charmed life. I worship you as the most beautiful and profound influence that ever has come into my life. And believe me, this statement embodies no disloyalty, no disrespect or disparagement to Neva - rather it expresses a fulfillment of her wishes. These were: to die before me because she could not envision anything but desolation and the swift termination of her life should I go first. Also she often told me that she hoped that, after her passing - she knew that her days were limited because of her heart trouble - I would find someone else with lightness of spirit and verve who could keep my eyes on the stars so long as I should live. I have found such a person - and no amount of selfishness and shallowness and futility in the world about me can disturb my happiness and strength so long as she maintains her faith in me. With love, as always, Carl.
[5 X 3 card]
A person once asked of a great seer: “what shall I give to my son that he may grow up to be a true man?” The Seer replied: “give him food for his body - hunger for his mind and soul!”
[5 X 3 card]
An irrelevancy for you to appreciate.
There was a young man/
So benighted,/
He didn’t know when/
he was slighted,/
so we went to the party/
and ate very hearty,/
as if he’d been really/
invited./
[3 X 2 note]
Your guess where they belong.
Dr. Carl Duncan and Patricia Whiting Collection (SJSU)
