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A Few Great Romances from History
History is filled with stories of people - ordinary people who are remembered for their extraordinary deeds and thoughts. When one looks back over the years, several great romances from the past stand out as exemplary in purity and sacrificial love. Valentine's Day is a good time to remember these great lovers from the past.
The older generation used to say, "Behind every great man there is a great woman." This referred to mothers, of course, but it also referred to those supportive and helpful wives. One of the great romances was that between the first black major league baseball player, Jackie Robinson and his wife Rachel. Robinson became a star athlete during the late 1940's, a time when there was much bigotry and racial tension. Becoming the first black player to make it to the major leagues put him in the path of much oppression. One of his coaches with the Brooklyn Dodgers advised him to get a good wife because he would need her support as he blazed this trail.
Jackie met Rachel, who was a nursing student, in 1940, but they did not marry until 1946. She was at his side as he endured bigotry and degradation that first professional year of his career. She was noted for being extremely proud of her husband. Jackie Robinson was quoted on several occasions as saying that he couldn't have done it without his wife Rachel.
Another famous romance from history was the relationship between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Victoria became queen at the tender age of 18. Three years later, when Albert and his brother arrived at Windsor Castle, it took her exactly 4 days to decide to marry him. The couple had nine children over the next 17 years. but their romance was cut short by his untimely death at the age of only 42. In her grief, Queen Victoria wore black for the rest of her life. When she finally died after over 60 years of reigning as queen, she was laid to rest next to her beloved Prince Albert. The words on her mausoleum door say, "farewell best friend, here at last I shall rest with thee, with thee in Christ I shall rise again.
One of the most romantic stories from history is that of the relationship between Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. Elizabeth was a poet who was acquiring quite a following, but she was also very weak and of poor health. Not only that, she was 39 years old and never married. Robert, a 32 year old poet read a volume of her poetry and wrote to her saying, "I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett.
The two wrote almost 600 letters over the next 20 months. They married secretly because her father had issued an order that she should never marry. She later attributed her marriage to Robert Browning as bringing about her recovery from illness and prolonging her life.
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