rel with humanity at large was its
derogation from its own dignity, its neglect of its own best interests.
Such a sense of human value as she possessed was truly a Christian gift,
and it was in virtue of this that she was able to impart such
exhilaration and hopefulness to those who were content to learn of her.

But here, in our chronicle, the early morning hours are already over.
The inward conquest which was sealed by the sunbeam of that "sallow"
November day becomes the prelude to an outward struggle with
difficulties which tasked to the utmost the strength acquired by our
neophyte through prayer and study.

In the spring of 1833 Margaret found herself obliged to leave the
academic shades of Cambridge for the country retirement of Groton. Her
father, wearied with a long practice of the law, had removed his
residence to the latter place, intending to devote his later years to
literary labor and the education of his younger children. To Margaret
this change was unwelcome, and the result showed it, at a later day, to
have been unfortunate for the family. She did not, however, take here
the position of a malcontent, but that of one who, finding herself
removed from congenial surroundings, knows how to summon to her aid the
hosts of noble minds with which study has made her familiar. Her German
books go with her, and Goethe, Schiller, and Jean Paul solace her lonely
hours. She reads works on architecture, and books of travel in Italy,
while sympathy with her father's pursuits leads her to interest herself
in American history, concerning which he had collected much information
with a view to historical composition.

We find her also engaged in tuition. She has four pupils, probably the
younger children of the family, and gives lessons in three languages
five days in the week, besides teaching geography and history. She has
much needlework to do, and the ill-health of her mother and grandmother
brings additional cares. The course of study which she has marked out
for herself can only be pursued, she says, on three evenings in the
week, and at chance hours in the day. It includes a careful perusal of
Alfieri's writings and an examination into the evidences of the
Christian religion. To this she is impelled by "distressing sceptical
notions" of her own, and by the doubts awakened in her mind by the
arguments of infidels and of deists, some of whom are numbered among her
friends.

The following letter, addressed by Margar