The growth is too luxuriant for beauty and leaves a lair for monsters. Being cleared away, here is an after-growth of fair proportioned trees, and beauteous flowers, the Greek myths.
“Oh, Nature, — History of man, last birth of Nature, — how I see the fibres of God woven all through every part as far as the eye can stretch!”[1]
While Mrs. Child was making preparations to develop this new thought in her “Progress of Religious Ideas,” Margaret Fuller made it a frequent theme of her conversations; beginning with the Greek mythology, and following up with illustrations from other sources, the rich materials for which are scattered everywhere in her note-books. In later years, however, following the constant current which led her toward life and action, she had for her themes a variety of points in ethics and education.
The usual hour for these conversations was eleven in the morning. The persons present were usually twenty-five or thirty in number, rarely less, sometimes more; and they were among the most alert and active-minded women in Boston. Ten or a dozen, besides Miss Fuller, usually took actual part in the talk. Her method was to begin each subject with a short introduction, giving the outline of the subject, and suggesting the most effective points of view. This done, she invited questions or criticisms: if these lagged, she put questions herself, using persuasion for the
- ↑ MS.
