He said that when the day came when men were ruled by the law of love and understood each other, a kingdom would be established that would never be destroyed, and that it would consume all other kingdoms. Robert believed that the United States, the land of liberty, was created never to be destroyed, and that it would eventually consume all other nations and rule by the law of love and justice, that it was God's will that it become the most prosperous country and the banking nation of the world. Believed that the nation referred to in Psalms 147:20 was the United States:
"He hath not dealt so with any nation and as for his judgments they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord."
Walter was not so enthusiastic and sure about the power of Love as Robert. You can never tell what a woman will do, he said and referred to Proverbs 30:18 and 19:
"There be three things which are too wonderful for me. Yea, four which I know not,—the way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of a sea, and the way of a man with a maid."
Walter said, "The last one is too much for me and I would not attempt to discern the way of a maid without a man. They go where you know not and return when you least expect it. Some wise woman once said, 'When you know one man, you know all.' A wiser man said, 'You never know a woman, for all women are different.'"
Robert said, "It is interesting to go back over history and read the opinions of the smartest men in regard to woman. Confucius said, 'Woman is a masterpiece.' Michelet said, 'Woman is a miracle of divine contradictions.' Lamartine said, 'There is a woman at the beginning of all great things.' I am wholly in accord with him. Go back to the bottom of every great achievement and back of it you will find the influence of a good woman. It may be a mother, sister or sweetheart, but the love of a woman is always the motive behind the great achievements of men. Someone once said: 'Not for herself was woman first created, nor yet to be man's idol, but his mate.' Pythagoras said: 'There are in woman's eyes two sorts of tears, the one of grief; the other of deceit.' I think that is because there are two kinds of men, one who appreciates love and honor and gives sympathy; the other kind who is selfish, expects something for nothing and must meet with deceit. I am a great believer in sowing and reaping. We get out of life just what we put into it. If we give love and faithfulness, the same returns to us. Maeterlinck was right when he said: 'A man's sweetheart is just as pure as his thoughts of her are pure.' I remember reading a poem,
"What thou lovest, Man,
Become thou must,
God, if thou lovest God,
Dust if thou lovest dust.
Napoleon said, 'All the women in the world would not make me lose an hour,' but history shows that Napoleon did lose sleep over his love for Josephine. He wrote to her—'I am sick of men because they keep me away from my love.' Shakespeare expressed it better than all the rest when he said 'Kindness in woman, not their beauteous looks, shall win my love.' A real womanly woman whose heart is filled with love, cannot be other than kind because Kindness is a child of Love. Women may be mysterious and we may fail to understand them. That is one of the reasons why we love them all the more. Fontenelle said, 'There are three things I have always loved and never understood—paintings, music and women.' He might have added that the greatest of the three was, woman."
Then Walter quoted from Southey, "'There are three things a wise man will not trust, the wind, the sunshine of an April day and a woman's plighted faith.'" Robert replied—"Nevertheless nearly every wise man has loved and trusted some good woman and most of them have not regretted it. Walter, you have never really been in love and you don't know what love is. If you did, you would have faith and trust, regardless of all conditions." "I guess the subject of love and women is too deep for me," said Walter, "and the sooner you get down to business and your studies and get love off your mind, the greater success you are going to make." Robert answered, "Without love this world would never have existed. It was God's love for the world that saved it. My love for Marie will make me whatever I am to be in the future. Without that love I know I would be a miserable failure. The time will come when you will go to sleep at night with your last thoughts of beautiful rosy lips, of eyes that shine like Golconda's purest gems, of a voice that is sweeter than a nightingale, of luxurious hair and of a form that to you is more beautiful than Venus, and when you awake in the morning your first thoughts will be of her. You will see her in the beautiful flowers, her face will be reflected from the ripple of the pure waters; everything you think about she will appear in connection with. Your slumbers will be disturbed. When you get a fever like this, you will then know and understand the power of love. Then nothing else will matter, only one thing will count in your life—the woman you love. A great love like this must come to every man. In the Springtime of life it may be, or in those sunny solaces of the afternoon when the waning day brings sadness and man looks back and longs for the time when he might have loved, when he was younger and lived longer. Love is the elixir of life. It is a greater cure than any medicine. It has built up kingdoms and destroyed nations. You have ambitions now and a desire for gold, but after all, Walter, what can it buy? All the gold in the world cannot buy the tender touch of a little child's fingers or the lovelight in angel eyes like Marie's. It gives satisfaction that nothing else can."
Walter said, "Robert, you always drift back to Marie and her eyes. Those beautiful black eyes that you talk about may be wonderful, but you remember the old saying, 'Can you be true to eyes of black or brown, when blue has smiled on you?' You will find that a change will come sooner or later if Marie doesn't show up and you will be the better for it."