Page:Margaret Fuller by Howe, Julia Ward, Ed. (1883).djvu/139

124 and wisest womanhood that Margaret relied for the standard which should redeem the sex from violence and headlong excitement. Here, as elsewhere, she shows her faith in the good elements of human nature, and sees them, in her prophetic vision, as already crowned with an enduring victory.

"I stand in the sunny noon of life. Objects no longer glitter in the dews of morning, neither are yet softened by the shadows of evening. Every spot is seen, every chasm revealed. Climbing the dusty hill, some fair effigies that once stood for human destiny have been broken. Yet enough is left to point distinctly to the glories of that destiny." Margaret gives us, as the end of the whole matter, this sentence:—

Always the soul says to us all, Cherish your best hopes as a faith, and abide by them in action. Such shall be the effectual fervent means to their fulfilment."

In this sunny noon of life things new and strange were awaiting Margaret. Her days among kindred and country - people were nearly ended. The last volume given by her to the American public was entitled Papers on Art and Literature. Of these, a number had already appeared in print. In her preface she mentions the essay on "American Literature” as one now published for the first time, and also as "a very imperfect sketch," which she hopes to complete by some later utterance. She commends it to us, however, as "written with sincere and earnest feelings, and from a mind that cares for nothing but what is permanent and essential.” She thinks it should, therefore, have some merit, if only in the power of suggestion.” It has for us the great interest of making