'"You have done everything that the most affectionate and
loving daughter could, under all circumstances. My faith in
your generous desire to increase my happiness is founded on
the knowledge I have gained of your disposition, through your
whole life. I should ask your sympathy and aid, whenever it
could be available, knowing that you would give it first to
me. Waste no thought on neglected duties. I know of none.
Let us pursue our appointed paths, aiding each other in rough
places; and if I live to need the being led by the hand,
I always feel that you will perform this office wisely and
tenderly. We shall ever have perfect peace between us. Yours,
in all love."'
Margaret adds:--
'It has been, and still is, hard for me to give up the thought
of serenity, and freedom from toil and care, for mother,
in the evening of a day which has been all one work of
disinterested love. But I am now confident that she will learn
from every trial its lesson; and if I cannot be her protector,
I can be at least her counsellor and soother.'
From the less private parts of Margaret's correspondence with the
younger members of the family, some passages may be selected, as
attesting her quick and penetrating sympathy, her strict truth,
and influential wisdom.
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