cendental movement. William Henry
Channing who, like Margaret, was a part of it, says, "the summer of
1839 saw the full dawn of this strange enthusiasm." As he briefly
defines it "Transcendentalism, as viewed by its disciples, was a
pilgrimage from the idolatrous world of creeds and rituals to the
temple of the living God in the soul." Its disciples, says Mr.
Channing, "were pleasantly nick-named the 'Like-minded,' on the ground
that no two were of the same opinion." Of this company, he says,
"Margaret was a member by the grace of nature.... Men, her superiors
in years, in fame and social position, treated her more with the
frankness due from equal to equal, than the half condescending
deference with which scholars are wont to adapt themselves to
women.... It was evident that they prized her verdict, respected her
criticism, feared her rebuke, and looked to her as an umpire." In
speaking, "her opening was deliberate, like the progress of a massive
force gaining its momentum; but as she felt her way, and moving in a
congenial element, the sweep of her speech became grand. The style of
her eloquence was sententious, free from prettiness, direct, vigorous,
charged with vitality."

It was a saying of hers that if she had been a man, she would have
aspired to become an orator, and it seems probable she would not have
aspired in vain. The natural sequel to the occasional discussions of
the summer was the formation of a class of ladies for Conversation,
with Margaret as the leader. This class contained twenty-five or
thirty ladies, among whom were Mrs. George Bancroft, Mrs. Lydia Maria
Child, Mrs. Horace Mann, Mrs. Theodore Parker, Mrs. Waldo Emerson,
Mrs. George Ripley, and Mrs. Josiah Quincy. The first series of
thirteen meetings was immediately followed by a second series; they
were resumed the next winter and were continued with unabated interest
for five years.

The subjects considered in these celebrated Conversations ranged over
a very wide field, from mythology and religion, poetry and art, to
war, ethics, and sociology. If Margaret had not been brilliant in
these assemblies, she would have fallen short of herself as she has
been represented in the Cambridge drawing-rooms. As reported by one of
the members of the class, "Margaret used to come to the conversations
very well dressed and, altogether, looked sumptuously. She began them
with an exordium in which she gave her leading views,"--a part which
she is further s