les, which to them were brown with drought,
they sought in covert nooks of friendship for running waters, and
fruit from the tree of life. The journal, the letter, became of
greater worth than the printed page; for they felt that systematic
results were not yet to be looked for, and that in sallies of
conjecture, glimpses and flights of ecstasy, the "Newness" lifted
her veil to her votaries. Thus, by mere attraction of affinity, grew
together the brotherhood of the "Like-minded," as they were pleasantly
nicknamed by outsiders, and by themselves, on the ground that no two
were of the same opinion. The only password of membership to this
association, which had no compact, records, or officers, was a hopeful
and liberal spirit; and its chance conventions were determined merely
by the desire of the caller for a "talk," or by the arrival of some
guest from a distance with a budget of presumptive novelties. Its
"symposium" was a pic-nic, whereto each brought of his gains, as he
felt prompted, a bunch of wild grapes from the woods, or bread-corn
from his threshing-floor. The tone of the assemblies was cordial
welcome for every one's peculiarity; and scholars, farmers, mechanics,
merchants, married women, and maidens, met there on a level of
courteous respect. The only guest not tolerated was intolerance;
though strict justice might add, that these "Illuminati" were as
unconscious of their special cant as smokers are of the perfume of
their weed, and that a professed declaration of universal independence
turned out in practice to be rather oligarchic.

Of the class of persons most frequently found at these meetings
Margaret has left the following sketch:--

'"I am not mad, most noble Festus," was Paul's rejoinder, as
he turned upon his vulgar censor with the grace of a courtier,
the dignity of a prophet, and the mildness of a saint. But
many there are, who, adhering to the faith of the soul with
that unusual earnestness which the world calls "mad," can
answer their critics only by the eloquence of their characters
and lives. Now, the other day, while visiting a person whose
highest merit, so far as I know, is to save his pennies, I was
astounded by hearing him allude to some of most approved worth
among us, thus: "You know _we_ consider _those men_ insane."

'What this meant, I could not at first well guess, so
completely was my scale of character turned topsy-turvy. But
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