On this page
-
Text (1)
-
LIFE OF MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI. 83
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
I1st Europe. We Passed Over In Rapid Rev...
treating every fresh , person as a separate revelation from the infinite . And in this _slie had the truest reason ; it is we who are apt to be
overwhelmed by the clash of interests , the complicated political problems of our European civilisation , so that we come to value less
the individual units . And as she studied mankind , in like manner we find that a new author , a new set of prints , a new system of
philosophy or collection of casts , roused up in her an amount of enthusiasm we can with difficulty realise . Have we not a Sydenham
Palace within an hour ' s journey , and a vast Museum of the Louvre then within this that Boston of a day girl ; fling and ing do we herself find time with to impatient study them ardor ? Conceive into her
comparatively narrow opportunities , and writing long letters about tied them by which a silken carry string one back and dispatched to the days under when the such . precious missives care were of a
man on horse-back ! But the scene of her life was destined to undergo a change , such
as _* fells to the lot of few . At the age of six and thirty she quitted America for a tour which promised to be the realisation of her most
_arclent aspirations after self-culture . Margaret went to seek leisure and" learning , art and literature , the Uffizi and the Vatican . She
found Europe convulsed with the throes of revolution , and herself strangely enough caught up into the very centre of the vortex .
Her " conversation classes" are laid aside for the stirring intercourse of the most active spirits of our eenfcury ; her love of art pales before
her love of the people by whom art grew unto its great estate ; her many and genial friendships harmonise henceforth with the key note
of a woman's life , the love of husband and child . She fears for themshe lives for them , and her very language acquires a nobler
, and simpler tone . Margaret Fuller Ossoli finds her own niche in the eventful story of 1848 , and death did not claim her until she had
received from life the best gifts it could bestow . But we must return to the order of our tale . "We left Margaret
Fuller under the roof of Horace Greeley , the editor of the " New York Tribune . " No part of her memoirs is more touching than
that written by him ; showing how ( while , at the request of his wife , receiving her into his household ) the somewhat mingled feelings of
" friendly antagonism " and an " utter divergency of views , " with which he at first viewed the remarkable inmate whose talents he could
not fail to appreciate , warmed into esteem and affection of the most beautiful kind . With Mr . Greeley ' s little boy Pickie , Margaret
< K > ntracted the most devoted alliance . It was Pickie for whom she brought out her stores of fascination , Pickie to whom she became
" teacher , playmate , and monitor , " Pickie who bade her a weeping farewell on board the ship which "bore her away from her native
landand who went before her to the " Father ' s house , whence is , no returning . "
In 1846 her long and ardently cherished desire of visiting * Europe
was gratified , and she sailed for England in the autumn of that year ,
Life Of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 83
LIFE OF MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI . 83
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Oct. 1, 1859, page 83, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01101859/page/11/
-