ained so long. Alas! a far longer and more
adventurous journey was required to reunite those loving
souls! The 12th of July, 1849, saw him stricken down, from
health to death, by the relentless cholera; and my letter,
announcing that calamity, drew from her a burst of passionate
sorrow, such as hardly any bereavement but the loss of a
very near relative could have impelled. Another year had just
ended, when a calamity, equally sudden, bereft a wide circle
of her likewise, with her husband and infant son. Little did I
fear, when I bade her a confident Good-by, on the deck of her
outward-bound ship, that the sea would close over her earthly
remains, ere we should meet again; far less that the light
of my eyes and the cynosure of my hopes, who then bade her
a tenderer and sadder farewell, would precede her on the dim
pathway to that 'Father's house,' whence is no returning! Ah,
well! God is above all, and gracious alike in what he conceals
and what he discloses;--benignant and bounteous, as well when
he reclaims as when he bestows. In a few years, at farthest,
our loved and lost ones will welcome us to their home."

Favorably as Mr. Greeley speaks of Margaret's articles in the Tribune,
it is yet true that she never brought her full power to bear upon
them; partly because she was too much exhausted by previous over-work,
partly because it hindered her free action to aim at popular effect.
Her own estimate of them is thus expressed:--

'I go on very moderately, for my strength is not great, and
I am connected with one who is anxious that I should not
overtask it. Body and mind, I have long required rest and
mere amusement, and now obey Nature as much as I can. If
she pleases to restore me to an energetic state, she will
by-and-by; if not, I can only hope this world will not turn
me out of doors too abruptly. I value my present position very
much, as enabling me to speak effectually some right words to
a large circle; and, while I can do so, am content.'

Again she says,--

'I am pleased with your sympathy about the Tribune, for I
do not find much among my old friends. They think I ought to
produce something excellent, while I am satisfied to aid
in the great work of popular education. I never regarded
literature merely as a collection of exquisite products, but
rather as a means of mutual