Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-12-05

Itbulb VI nohlO blkuhlb lIbNlhlOu luhl Llhut
finished sentences as natural TO her rs blum
dering and hesitation are TO the most of us
With n little more imagination she would
have made an excellent improyisatrice. =
What especially admired in her was her in
telectual sincerity. Her judgments took no
bribe from her sex or her sphere, nor from
custom, nor tradition nor caprice She val
ued truth supremely, both for herself and
others. The question with her was not what
should be believed, or what ought to be true,
but what is true. Her yes and no were new
er conventional and she often answered peo-
pie, by cool and unexpected dissent from
the commonplaces Of popular acceptation."
This from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
"The day was never long enough to exhaust
her opulent memory and l, who knew her
intimately for ten years-from July 1885, till
August, 1916, when she sailed for Europe
never saw her without surprise at her new
powers. The test of this eloquence
was its range. 1t told on children and old
people on men of the world and on sainted
maids. She could hold them all by her hon
eyed tongue. Her talents were so various
and her conversation so rich and entertain
ing that one might talk with her many times
by the parlor fire before he discovered the
strength which served as foundation to so
much accomplishment and eloquence. But
concealed under flowers and music was the
broadest good sense, very well able to dis
pose of all this pile of native and foreign
ornaments, and quite able to work without
them. Margaret had, with certain
limitations or must we say, structures these
larger lungs, inhaling this universal element
and could speak TO jew and Greek, free and
bond, to each in his own tongue. The Con
cord stage coachman distinguished her by his
respect, and the Chambermaid was pretty
sure to conide TO her on the second day her
homely romance
This from James Freeman Clarke:
Full of thoughts and full of words; capa-
BILE of poetic inspiration, had there not been
a slight overweight of tendency to be tangi-
BILE and real capable of clear, complete, phil
osophic statement but for the strong tendency
to life which melted down evermore in its
lava-current the solid blocks of thought She
was yet, by these eXcesses. better fitted for
the arena of conversation. Here she found
none adequate for the equal encounter :;
when she laid down her lance in rest. every
champion must go down before it. Z"
She was well aware that her forte was con-
versation. Here she felt at home, here she
felt her power, and the excitement which the
presence of living persons brought gave all
her faculties full activity. After all, she
says in a letter, this writing is mighty dead.
Oh, for my dear old Greeks, who talked ev-
crything-not to shine as in the Partisan sa-
Ions but to learn, to teach to vent the heart,
to clear the mind = ! am disposed
to think. much as she excelled in general con
yersation, that her greatest mental efforts
were made in intercourse with individuals.
All her friends will unite in the testimony
that whatever they may have known of wit
and eloquence in others, they have never
seen one who like her, by the conversation
of an hour or two, could not merely entertain
and inform, but make an epoch in ones life
We all dated back TO this or that conversation
with Margaret, in which we took u complete
survey of great subjects, came to some clear
view of a difficult question, saw one way open
before us to higher plane of life and were
led to some definite resolution or purpose
which has had bearing upon all Of our sub
sequent career For Margarets conversation
turned, at such times, to life-its destiny, its
duty, its prospect With comprehensive
glance she would survey the past and sum
| p, -, " fass hriaf words. ito -asnlfs she
would then turn to the future, and. by nat
ural order, sweep through its chances and al
ternatiyes-passng ever into more earnest
tone, into a more serious view-aud then
bring all to bear on the present, till its duties
grew plain, and its opportunities attractive.
| always left her with a new sense of the
worth of knowledge and the value of life"
This from William Henry Claiming:
Her temperament was predominantly what
the Psychologists would call nervous san
guine and the gray eye, rich brown hair,
and light complexion, with the muscular and
well developed frame, bespoke delicacy bal
anced by vigor. Here was sensitive yet
powerful being, fit at once for rapture or sus-
tanned effort intensely active prompt for ad-
venture, firm for trial. She certainly had
not beauty yet the high arched dome of the
head, the change of expressiyeness Of every
feature, and her whole air of mingled digni-
ty and impulse, gave her commanding
charm. Especially characteristic were two
| physical traits. The first was a contraction
Of the eyeldS almost to point--a trick
caught from near sightednes and then a
sudden dilation, till the iris seemed to emit
flashes an effect no doubt dependent upon
her highly magnetized condition. The sec
ond was a singular pliancy of the yertebrm
| and muscles of the neck, enabling her by a
| mere movement to denote each varying emo
| ton; in moments of tenderness, or pensiye
feeling its curves were swan-like in grace,
| but when she was scornful or indignant it
| contracted, and made swift turns like bird
| of prey. Finally, in the animation, yet d6dn-
| d0H of Margarets attitude and look, were
rarely blended the fiery force of northern,
l
She was, indeed the Friend. This was her
vocation She bore at her girdle a golden
| key to unlock all caskets of confidence. Into
| whatever home she entered she brought a
| benediction of truth, justice, tolerance and
honor and to every one who sought her to
confess, or seek counsel she spoke the need
ed word of stern yet benignant wisdom. To
how many was the forming of her acquaint-
| ance an era of renovation, of awakening from
sloth, indulgence or despair, to heroic mas
| terry of fate, of inward serenity and strength,
of new birth to real self of catholic
| sympathies, of energy cOnsecrated to the Su-
preme God. Thus writes to her one who
stands among the foremost in his own
| department: What / am | owe in large
| measure to the stimulus you impaired. You
reused my heart with high hopes you raised
my aims from patry and vain pursuits to
those which tasked and fed the soul; you in
| spired me with n great ambition, and made
me see the worth and meaning of life ; you
awakened in me confidence in my own pow
ers, showed me my special and distinct abili-
| ty, and quickened my individual conscious
| ness by intelligent sympathy with tendencies
and feeling which l but half understand.
You gave me to myself. Bless God that he
has allotted to you such ministry
This from Horace Greeley
"For myself, burning no incense at any
| human shrine, 1 half consciously resolved to
keep my eye-beam clear, and escape the fas-
cination which she seemed to exert over the
eminentand cultivated persons, mainly women,
who came to our out-of-the-way dwelling to
visit her, and who seemed generally to re-
| gard her with a strangely oriental admiration.
But as time wore on, and l became ineyita-
! bly, better and better acquainted with her, l
found myself drawn, almost irresistibly, into
| the general current. / found that her faults
and weaknesses were all superficial, and OBJ
| vious to the most casual, if undazzed observ-
err They rather dwindled than expanded
upon a fuller knowledge or rather, took on
new and brighter aspects in the light of her
radiant and lofty soul. learned to know her
as a most fearless and unselfsh champion of
truth and human good at all hazards, ready
to be a standard bearer through danger and
obloquy, and, if need be, their martyr.
| tb;,l- Fauy bava mara EaapIv oYpraoiata1 tho