love letters

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I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in

F. W.

I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never.

___________

I recently finished reading Persuasion by Jane Austen. It was a quick read that appeased all of my girly tendencies, but what I enjoyed most was the love letter above from Captain Frederick Wentworth to Miss Anne.

Since then I've been thinking about love letters. Some of my grandma's most cherished possessions are the letters that she and my grandpa exchanged while he was at war. The most famous of which we call the "Pushy Letter", where she convinced him that she was the best girl around, that he should cease from writing any other girls, and that he should plan on marrying her upon his return. It worked.

Patrick and I spent about 6 months of our courtship apart, and we took to writing love letters. I adore going back and reading them, remembering when we were just starting to get to know eachother, and how giddy I was everytime I checked the mail. I suppose in this day and age, emails and online messages can also be little forms of love letters no?

Have you ever exchanged letters? Do you like to hand-write them or send them in other forms?

xoxo

p.s. an adorable captain wentworth notebook- letter and all!

p.p.s. how cute is this letter from an 11 year old boy to his crush?