itionist, whose death in 1867 was the occasion of
quite a controversy in New England--a controversy based on the fact that
he had opposed some of the most virulent schemes of his coworkers at a
time when abolitionism had not yet gathered its full strength. Mr.
Eustis, in his day, was in the habit of boasting that his daughter had a
great deal of genuine American spirit--the spirit that one set of
circumstances drives to provinciality, another to patriotism, and
another to originality.

Helen had spent two long winters in Europe without parting with the fine
flavor of her originality. She was exceedingly modest in her designs,
too, for she went neither as a missionary nor as a repentant. She found
no foreign social shrines that she thought worthy of worshiping at. She
admired what was genuine, and tolerated such shams as obtruded
themselves on her attention. Her father's connections had enabled her to
see something of the real home-life of England; and she was delighted,
but not greatly surprised, to find that at its best it was not greatly
different from the home life to which she had been accustomed.

The discovery delighted her because it confirmed her own broad views;
but she no more thought it necessary to set about aping the social
peculiarities to be found in London drawing-rooms than she thought of
denying her name or her nativity. She made many interesting studies and
comparisons, but she was not disposed to be critical. She admired many
things in Europe which she would not have considered admirable in
America, and whatever she found displeasing she tolerated as the natural
outcome of social or climatic conditions. Certainly the idea never
occurred to her that her own country was a barren waste because time had
not set the seal of antiquity on its institutions. On the other hand,
this admirable young woman was quick to perceive that much information
as well as satisfaction was to be obtained by regarding various European
peculiarities from a strictly European point of view.

But Miss Eustis's reminiscences of the Old World were sad as well as
pleasant. Her journey thither had been undertaken in the hope of
restoring her father's failing health, and her stay there had been
prolonged for the same purpose. For a time he grew stronger and better,
but the improvement was only temporary. He came home to die, and to
Helen this result seemed to be the end of all things. She had devoted
herself to looking after his com