Perhaps no
large social success was ever achieved upon such unworldly conditions;
she swung as free as possible of the world of society and its
opinions, forming a centre of her own, built up on the sure
foundations of love and loyalty. She saw as much as any woman of the
time of large numbers of people, and she was able to give them the
best kind of social enjoyment: music, pictures, poetry, and
conversation; the latter sometimes poor and sometimes good, according
to the drift which swept through her beautiful room. Mrs. Thaxter was
generous in giving invitations to her parlor, but to its frequenters
she said, "If people do not enjoy what they find, they must go their
way; my work and the music will not cease." The study of nature and
art was always going forward either on or around her work-table. The
keynote of conversation was struck there for those who were able to
hear it. We were reminded of William Blake's verse:--
"I give you the end of a golden string,
Only wind it into a ball,
It will lead you in at Heaven's gate,
Built in Jerusalem wall."
Here it was that Whittier could be heard at his best, sympathetic,
stimulating, uplifting, as he alone could be, and yet as he, with his
Quaker training to silence, was so seldom moved to prove himself. Here
he would sit near her hour after hour; sometimes mending her aeolian
harp while they talked together, sometimes reading aloud to the
assembled company.
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