ates the life and death of his parents, and his own, he
alone lies buried, the only one of Margaret's treasures that ever
reached the country of her birth.

Death gives an unexpected completeness to the view of individual
character. The secret of a noble life is only fully unfolded when its
outward envelope has met the fate of all things perishable. And so the
mournful tragedy just recounted set its seal upon a career whose
endeavor and achievement the world is bound to hold dear. When all that
could be known of Margaret was known, it became evident that there was
nothing of her which was not heroic in intention; nothing which, truly
interpreted, could turn attention from a brilliant exterior to meaner
traits allowed and concealed. That she had faults we need not deny; nor
that, like other human beings, she needs must have said and done at
times what she might afterwards have wished to have better said, better
done. But as an example of one who, gifted with great powers, aspired
only to their noblest use; who, able to rule, sought rather to counsel
and to help,--she deserves a place in the highest niche of her country's
affection. As a woman who believed in women, her word is still an
evangel of hope and inspiration to her sex. Her heart belonged to all of
God's creatures, and most to what is noblest in them. Gray-headed men of
to-day, the happy companions of her youth, grow young again while they
speak of her. One of these,[J] who is also one of her earlier
biographers, still recalls her as the greatest soul he ever knew. Such
a word, spoken with the weight of ripe wisdom and long experience, may
fitly indicate to posterity the honor and reverence which belong to the
memory of MARGARET FULLER.

CHAPTER XVII.

MARGARET FULLER'S LITERARY REMAINS.

The preceding narrative has necessarily involved some consideration of
the writings which gave its subject her place among the authors of her
time. This consideration has been carefully interwoven with the story of
the life which it was intended to illustrate, not to interrupt. With all
this care, however, much has been left unsaid which should be said
concerning the value of Margaret's contributions to the critical
literature of her time. Of this, our present limits will allow us to
make brief mention only.

Margaret so lived in the life of her own day and generation, so keenly
felt its good and ill, that many remember her as a woman whose spoken
word and presenc