Margaret liked the idea, and James Clarke seemed to accept it for the whole party. He said that he had never felt any interest in the Greek stories, until Margaret had made them the subject of conversation.
E. P. P. said she had felt excessively ashamed all through that she knew so little.
Margaret said no one need to feel so. It was a subject that might exhaust any preparation. Still, she wished we would study! She had herself enjoyed great advantages. Nobody’s explanations had ever perplexed her brain. She had been placed in a garden, with a great pile of books before her. She began to read Latin before she read English. For a time these deities were real to her, and she prayed: “O God! if thou art Jupiter!” etc.
James Clarke said he remembered her once telling him that she prayed to Bacchus for a bunch of grapes!
Margaret smiled, and said that when she was first old enough to think about Christianity, she cried out for her dear old Greek gods. Its spirituality seemed nakedness. She could not and would not receive it. It was a long while before she saw its deeper meaning.
CAROLINE W. HEALEY.
May 7, 1841.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Emerson’s presence at Conversations II. V. and VIII. is noted above, because in his contribution to Margaret’s “Memoirs” he shows that his attendance made absolutely no impression on him. He states that there were but five Conversations, and that he was present only at the second.