ily," writes a friend, "a very handsome
young girl, who had been vicious in her habits, and so enamored of
one of her lovers, that when he deserted her, she attempted to drown
herself. She was rescued, and some good people were eager to reform
her life. While she was engaged in housework for us, Margaret saw her,
and one day asked ---- if she could not help her. ---- replied: 'No!
for should I begin to talk with her, I should show my consciousness of
her history so much as to be painful.' Margaret was very indignant at
this weakness. Said she,

'This girl is taken away, you know, from all her objects of
interest, and must feel her life vacant and dreary. Her mind
should be employed; she should be made to feel her powers.'

It was plain that if Margaret had been near her, she would have
devoted herself at once to her education and reestablishment."

About the time of breaking up their home, Margaret thus expressed, to
one of her brothers, her hopes and plans.

'You wish, dear ----, that I was not obliged to toil and spin,
but could live, for a while, like the lilies. I wish so,
too, for life has fatigued me, my strength is little, and the
present state of my mind demands repose and refreshment,
that it may ripen some fruit worthy of the long and deep
experiences through which I have passed. I do not regret that
I have shared the labors and cares of the suffering million,
and have acquired a feeling sense of the conditions under
which the Divine has appointed the development of the human.
Yet, if our family affairs could now be so arranged, that I
might be tolerably tranquil for the next six or eight years,
I should go out of life better satisfied with the page I have
turned in it, than I shall if I must still toil on. A noble
career is yet before me, if I can be unimpeded by cares. I
have given almost all my young energies to personal relations;
but, at present, I feel inclined to impel the general stream
of thought. Let my nearest friends also wish that I should now
take share in more public life.'

[Footnote A: Summer on the Lakes.]

[Footnote B: The editor must offer as excuse for printing, without
permission asked, this note, found carefully preserved among
Margaret's papers, that he knew no other way of so truly indicating
the relation between mother and daughter. This lily is eloquent of the
valley where it grew. W.H.C.]