Coded Letters, Concealed Love
Cód:
491_9780989916967
Charismatic leaders have a way of flying too close to the fire. This is the chronicle of the secret romance between Hale and Freeman revealed for the first time through 3,000 of their love letters (1884-1909), written partly in code.The Reverend Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) was one of the most revered moral and thought leaders of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, and yet, during twenty of his last twenty-five years, he lived a double life. From the first celebratory biography of Hale by his namesake son, however, through two later biographies, Hales long marriage to the former Emily Baldwin Perkins (a member of the famed Beecher family) was described as successful, even cloudless. Edward Everett Hale Jr., who was aware of the reality, described his fathers much younger, unmarried longtime soul mate and lover, Harriet E. Freeman (1847-1930), as his literary amanuensis, assistant in his charitable works, and old friend. Jean Holloway, the second and most insightful of Hales biographers, lacking evidence to the contrary, reiterated Freemans supportive role, while his last, literary biographer John Adams, mentioned her not at all, despite the fact that love letters between Hale and Freeman had been made available three years before his books 1977 publication. And so Hales impeccable reputation endured, with no hint of the human weaknesses that seemed to accompany the qualities of religious faith, creative intellect, tolerance, empathy, charm, humor, and energy that were so admired by his contemporaries.In 1969, the Library of Congress acquired from a Freeman family descendant 3,000 of the Hale-Freeman love letters (1884-1909), written partly in code. Because interest in Hale had waned and potential researchers were probably daunted by the code, these letters remained unexamined for thirty-five years. Their significance became apparent only when Sara Day began studying the letters in 2006 and succeeded in breaking the code they used to express their love for
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