James F. Clarke spoke of a Virginia snake that moves in a circle, and asked if when Mr. Emerson talked about “coming full circle” he was not thinking of that?
Margaret laughed, and declared that serpent must be of Yankee invention. Æsculapius bore two on his staff, Mercury two on his divining-rod, and the cock was also sacred to Æsculapius.
I asked if this did not indicate a certain subjection of these Gods to Wisdom?
Some questions written on paper were here read. One asked why Minerva was born of the stroke of Vulcan, and why she was the patroness of weavers, and what that had to do with the story of Arachne.
Margaret replied with ill temper to the first, that it was because Vulcan held the hammer,—to the second, that she did not know.
But was there really so little meaning in the fact that Mechanic Art so ministered to Intelligent Will that she could afford to miss the point?
She said we could see that Minerva was told to marry Vulcan, but declined; would have nothing to do with the sooty cripple.
Sophia Ripley said, aptly enough, that Minerva had been changing her mind ever since!
Ida Russell thought that when Mechanic Art was married to Beauty, it might charm even Wisdom.