Re: Love Letters

Bruderhof wrote:

> Little is so well documented as Eberhard and Emmy’s engagement. The
> couple wrote to each other daily, sometimes more than once. To the
> credit of the Prussian postal service it must be said that the letters
> never took more than a day to arrive. Of course the letters were
> always preoccupied with the joys and sorrows of two young people very
> much in love. But at the same time, and sometimes preponderantly, the
> letters focused upon Jesus and the couple’s relationship to him.
> Emmy’s mother remarked that she had never read such odd love letters.
> They were full of nothing but “Jesus alone – Amen – Hallelujah.”
> 

If ever two people were of one heart and one soul, they were Eberhard 
Arnold and Emmy von Hollander: He writes poems to her, and pleads with her

to send him one of her blond curls. And requests photos, again and again. 
He sends her books – parcels of them – by authors like Finney, Torrey, 
Catherine Booth, Count Korff, and many others. Emmy wants to hear about
his 
work, the articles he’s writing – everything. He suggests they read books 
from the Bible concurrently and tell each other everything that strikes 
them. She is enthusiastic and picks Matthew’s Gospel as a starting point. 
Within half a year they have worked through the New Testament. Eberhard 
tells her she is beautiful, and that he is enchanted by her blue eyes. She

can hardly believe her happiness. He writes about his bike tours to the 
Oder River, and about his course load at the university. She advises him 
not to overdo it. He advises her to get more rest and sleep. She confesses

to him that she gossiped. After a few months he becomes aware, to his 
horror, that two other girls had apparently pinned their hopes on him.
Emmy 
then begs him to avoid compromising situations, and to let others do 
spiritual counseling with young girls. And the matter is closed. He 
reflects on events from his earlier days, she relates incidents from hers.

He keeps her up to date with all that is happening in Breslau. She tells 
him in great detail what is going on in the family, among people in the 
Alte Promenade Fellowship, and in Christian circles in Halle. And there
are 
always many and often complex events to recount.