ports from some of Margaret's hearers show us how she appeared to
them:--

"All was said with the most captivating address and grace, and with
beautiful modesty. The position in which she placed herself with respect
to the rest was entirely lady-like and companionable."

Another writer finds in the _seance_ "the charm of a Platonic dialogue,"
without pretension or pedantry. Margaret, in her chair of leadership,
appeared positively beautiful in her intelligent enthusiasm. Even her
dress was glorified by this influence, and is spoken of as sumptuous,
although it is known to have been characterized by no display or
attempted effect.

In Margaret's plan the personages of the Greek Olympus were considered
as types of various aspects of human character. Prometheus became the
embodiment of pure reason. Jupiter stood for active, Juno for passive
will, the one representing insistence, the other resistance. Minerva
pictured the practical power of the intellect. Apollo became the symbol
of genius, Bacchus that of geniality. Venus was instinctive womanhood,
and also a type of the Beautiful, to the consideration of which four
conversations were devoted. In a fifth, Margaret related the story of
Cupid and Psyche in a manner which indelibly impressed itself upon the
minds of her hearers. Other conversations presented Neptune as
circumstance, Pluto as the abyss of the undeveloped, Pan as the glow and
play of nature, etc. Thus in picturesque guise the great questions of
life and of character were passed in review. A fresh and fearless
analysis of human conditions showed, as a discovery, the grandeur and
beauty of man's spiritual inheritance. All were cheered and uplifted by
this new outlook, sharing for the time and perhaps thenceforth what Mr.
Emerson calls "the steady elevation of Margaret's aim."

These occasions, so highly prized and enjoyed, sometimes brought to
Margaret their penalty in the shape of severe nervous headache. During
one of these attacks a friend expressed anxiety lest she should continue
to suffer in this way. Margaret replied: "I feel just now such a
separation from pain and illness, such a consciousness of true life
while suffering most, that pain has no effect but to steal some of my
time."

In accordance with the urgent desire of the class the conversations were
renewed at the beginning of the following winter, Margaret having in the
mean time profited by a season of especial retirement which was not
witho