ld
by a superintendent of education.

"Once after she had been speaking in my city, she asked me to stand
beside her at a reception. As the Wellesley graduates came forward
to greet her--there were about eighty of them--she said something
to each which showed that she knew her. Some she called by their
first names; others she asked about their work, their families,
or whether they had succeeded in plans about which they had
evidently consulted her. The looks of pleased surprise which
flashed over the faces of those girls I cannot forget. They
revealed to me something of Miss Freeman's rich and radiant life.
For though she seemed unconscious of doing anything unusual, and
for her I suppose it was usual, her own face reflected the happiness
of the girls and showed a serene joy in creating that happiness."

Her husband, in his analysis of her character, has a remarkable
passage concerning this very quality of disinterestedness. He says:

"Her moral nature was grounded in sympathy. Beginning early, the
identification of herself with others grew into a constant habit,
of unusual range and delicacy.... Most persons will agree that
sympathy is the predominantly feminine virtue, and that she who
lacks it cannot make its absence good by any collection of other
worthy qualities. In a true woman sympathy directs all else. To
find a virtue equally central in a man we must turn to truthfulness
or courage. These also a woman should possess, as a man too
should be sympathetic; but in her they take a subordinate place,
subservient to omnipresent sympathy. Within these limits the
ampler they are, the nobler the woman.

"I believe Mrs. Palmer had a full share of both these manly
excellences, and practiced them in thoroughly feminine fashion.
She was essentially true, hating humbug in all its disguises....
Her love of plainness and distaste for affectation were forms of
veracity. But in narrative of hers one got much besides plain
realities. These had their significance heightened by her eager
emotion, and their picturesqueness by her happy artistry.... Of
course the warmth of her sympathy cut off all inclination to
falsehood for its usual selfish purpose. But against generous
untruth she was not so well guarded. Kindness was the first
thing.... Tact too, once become a habit, made adaptation to the
mind addressed a constant concern. She had extraordinary skill
in stuffing kindness with truth; and into a resisting m