The letter to M., which is published on page 345, is inserted chiefly
as showing the integrity and wisdom with which Margaret advised her
friends; the frankness with which she pointed out to every young woman
who asked counsel any deficiencies of character, and the duties of
life; and that among these latter she gave due place to the humblest
which serve to make home attractive and happy. It is but simple
justice for me to bear, in conjunction with many others, my tribute to
her domestic virtues and fidelity to all home duties. That her mind
found chief delight in the lowest forms of these duties may not be
true, and it would be sad if it were; but it is strictly true that
none, however humble, were either slighted or shunned.
In common with a younger sister and brother, I shared her care in my
early instruction, and found over one of the truest counsellors in a
sister who scorned not the youngest mind nor the simplest intellectual
wants in her love for communion, through converse or the silent page,
with the minds of the greatest and most gifted.
During a lingering illness, in childhood, well do I remember her as
the angel of the sick-chamber, reading much to me from books useful
and appropriate, and telling many a narrative not only fitted to wile
away the pain of disease and the weariness of long confinement, but to
elevate the mind and heart, and to direct them to all things noble and
holy; over ready to watch while I slept, and to perform every gentle
and kindly office.
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