'It has been, and still is, hard for me to give up the thought
of serenity, and freedom from toil and care, for mother,
in the evening of a day which has been all one work of
disinterested love. But I am now confident that she will learn
from every trial its lesson; and if I cannot be her protector,
I can be at least her counsellor and soother.'
From the less private parts of Margaret's correspondence with the
younger members of the family, some passages may be selected, as
attesting her quick and penetrating sympathy, her strict truth,
and influential wisdom. They may be fitly prefaced by these few but
emphatic words from a letter of one of her brothers:--
"I was much impressed, during my childhood, at Groton, with
an incident that first disclosed to me the tenderness of
Margaret's character. I had always viewed her as a being
of different nature from myself, to whose altitudes of
intellectual life I had no thought of ascending. She had been
absent during the winter, and on her return asked me for some
account of my experiences. Supposing that she could not enter
into such insignificant details, I was not frank or warm in
my confidence, though I gave no reason for my reserve; and the
matter had passed from my mind, when our mother told me that
Margaret had shed tears, because I seemed to heed so little
her sisterly sympathy. 'Tears from one so learned,' thought I,
'for the sake of one so inferior!' Afterwards, my heart opened
to her, as to no earthly friend.
"The characteristic trait of Margaret, to which all
her talents and acquirements were subordinate, was
sympathy,--universal sympathy. She had that large intelligence
and magnanimity which enabled her to comprehend the struggles
and triumphs of every form of character. Loving all about her,
whether rich or poor, rude or cultivated, as equally formed
after a Divine Original, with an equal birth-right of immortal
growth, she regarded rather their aspirations than their
accomplishments. And this was the source of her marvellous
influence. Those who had never thought of their own destiny,
nor put faith in their own faculties, found in her society not
so much a display of her gifts, as surprising discoveries of
their own. She revealed to them the truth, that all can be
noble by fidelity to the highest self. She appreciated, with
delicate tenderness, each one's peculiar trials, and, while
never attempting to make the unhappy feel that their miseries
were unreal, she pointed out the compensations of their
lot, and taught them how to live above misfortune. She had
consolation and advice for every one in trouble, and wrote
long letters to many friends, at the expense not only of
precious time, but of physical pain.
"When now, with the experience of a man, I look back upon her
wise guardianship over our childhood, her indefatigable labors
for our education, her constant supervision in our family
affairs, her minute instructions as to the management of
multifarious details, her painful conscientiousness in every
duty; and then reflect on her native inaptitude and even
disgust for practical affairs, on her sacrifice,--in the
very flower of her genius,--of her favorite pursuits, on her
incessant drudgery and waste of health, on her patient
bearing of burdens, and courageous conflict with difficult
circumstances, her character stands before me as heroic."