Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897 to Eliza Cook

Glad that he received Eliza's picture and letter. Cook is relived that she is well again and shares his fear of her death. He was most afraid she would die without ever knowing how much he loved her. Wishes their children to grow up and follow in their mother's goodness. Note takes the tone of an apology/guilt ridden letter. He writes, "Oh that I were with you every day and hour, that I might in some measure atone for the past and convince you that I am wholly truly and forever thine and thine only." Cook is upset by the death of his good friend Robert Calder and says "The death of Walter [his brother] was no heavier blow upon my affections. I had come to love him…I can never love a man as I did him. And if I and others so loved him what must have been the yearning of a mother's heart?" After they wrote to him, Cook apologizes for speaking so ill of his friends. Attempts to take back what he said about Dr. Feris and that he has no hard feelings towards him. Cook tells Eliza to be very careful of what she puts in her letters as they may be intercepted. He reminds Eliza of the importance of knowing her friends and associates. He tells her that being acquainted with a woman with an impure and scandalous past will damage her future standing as a society woman. He writes, "A woman's character is like a flake of snow; once soiled and there is no way to restore it to its natural purity…A woman's reputation should be chaste as the icicle and pure as the snow. No breath of scandal should ever be permitted to discolour her spotless and immaculate purity…These are only words of caution darling but oh let them sink deep into your heart. You are justly entitled to a first-position in society. Take it and no other."