"
Nevertheless she did not get to Campton, but kept on, with the
exception of a few brief visits at Peekskill and elsewhere until the
autumn. In one of her notes she says: "I have returned to my
treadmill. A---- is to leave as soon as she can get ready, and I am
trying to see her off--helping her to get her things together, and
trying to induce her to take a new stand in a new place and make
herself a respectable woman. When she is gone a load will be off my
back. If it were not for the good that is still left in our fellows
our task would be easier than it is; we could cut them adrift and let
them swim; but while we see much that may be turned to good account in
them we hang on, or let them hang on, and our boat moves slow. So
behold me fighting my good fight of womanhood against dust and
disorganization and the universal downward tendency of everybody,
hoping for easier times by and by."
With her heroic nature she was always ready to lead the forlorn hope.
The child no one else was willing to provide for, the woman the world
despised, were brought into her home and cared for as her own.
Unhappily, her delicate health at this time (though she was naturally
strong), her constant literary labors, her uncertain income, her
private griefs, all united, caused her to fall short in ability to
accomplish what she undertook; hence there were often crises from
sudden illness and non-fulfillment of engagements which were very
serious in their effects, but the elasticity of her spirits was
something marvelous and carried her over many a hard place.
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