and wide, rich fields, saw this sad lore well learned, they also saw some precious lessons given in faith, fortitude, self-command, and unselfish love.  There too, in solitude, the mind acquired more power of concentration, and discerned the beauty of strict method; there too, more than all, the heart was awakened to sympathize with the ignorant, to pity the vulgar, to hope for the seemingly worthless, and to commune with the Divine Spirit of Creation, which cannot err, which never sleeps, which will not permit evil to be permanent, nor its aim of beauty in the smallest particular eventually to fail.’

WINTER IN BOSTON.

In the autumn of 1836 Margaret went to Boston, with the two-fold design of teaching Latin and French in Mr. Alcott’s school, which was then highly prosperous, and of forming classes of young ladies in French, German, and Italian.

Her view of Mr. Alcott’s plan of education was thus hinted in a journal, one day, after she had been talking with him, and trying to place herself in his mental position:—­

Mr. A. ’O for the safe and natural way of Intuition!  I cannot grope like a mole in the gloomy passages of experience.  To the attentive spirit, the revelation contained in books is only so far valuable as it comments upon, and corresponds with, the universal revelation.  Yet to me, a being social and sympathetic by natural impulse, though recluse and contemplative by training and philosophy, the character and life of Jesus have spoken more forcibly than any fact recorded in human history.  This story of incarnate Love has given me the key to all mysteries, and showed me what path should be taken in returning to the Fountain of Spirit.  Seeing that other redeemers have imperfectly fulfilled their tasks, I have sought a new way.  They all, it seemed to me, had tried to influence the human being at too late a day, and had laid their plans too wide.  They began with men; I will begin with babes.  They began with the world; I will begin with the family.  So I preach the Gospel of the Nineteenth Century.’

    M.  ’But, preacher, you make three mistakes.

    ’You do not understand the nature of Genius or creative power.

    ’You do not understand the reaction of matter on spirit.

    ’You are too impatient of the complex; and, not enjoying
    variety in unity, you become lost in abstractions, and cannot
    illustrate your principles.’

On the other hand, Mr. Alcott’s impressions of Margaret were thus noted in his diaries:—­

“She is clearly a person given to the boldest speculation, and of liberal and varied acquirements.  Not wanting in imaginative power, she has the rarest good sense and discretion.  She adopts the Spiritual Philosophy, and has the subtlest perception of its bearings.  She takes large and generous views of all subjects, and her disposition is singularly catholic.  The