Mary Elizabeth Wilson Sherwood

“ The terribly tragic end of that life, which was so noble, generous, and helpful, has placed Margaret Fuller above criticism, and one only wishes that to his sombre studies Hawthorne might have added that shipwrecked, faithful woman holding her child to her breast. His exquisitely delicate genius, refined away almost to gossamer, would then have encased them both in a web of alabaster like that which was found in the rooms of the Borgias. ”

“ Curtis, Hawthorne, and Margaret Fuller.
It would astonish the good citizens of Dubuque, Iowa, of to-day if I should tell them what a small, pretty village theirs was when I first saw it; how immense prairies filled with wild flowers stretched back from the great bluff (I suppose that is there still) which defends their State of Iowa from the rolling Mississippi, and what a little row of houses clustered under the hill. Beyond on the prairies lived some of our friends, who were early settlers. We used to go out for a day and a night, and had some log-cabin experiences not always pleasant. ”

“ The Whites lived in a grand house, of limitless capacity, at Watertown. This house seemed ever to be full, for each sister had a friend staying with her; and although there were five sisters at home, yet there was always room for one more. I remember that the beautiful, dark-eyed Misses Oilman, the daughters of the poetess Caroline Gilman, and the reverend doctor, their father, were there, and visitors for lunch and tea were always arriving. And here for the first time I saw that extraordinary genius, William Henry Hurlbert. ”

“ We slept on the way at log-cabins of settlers as we drove along; and once our little carriage, with my absurdly big trunk in front, nearly tipped into a stream we were fording. My father's great form was in the stream instantly, and he held us all up out of the water — carriage, trunk, and daughter. Fortunately, we had to drive in a burning sun for two hours, so he got thoroughly dried. The sorrowful prairie wives and mothers, mostly emigrants from New England, used to move my soul to pity in this journey. ”

“ I saw much of this courtship, destined one day to be the property of the world, from the distinction which both lovers won by their talents.
All courtships are beautiful, or should be. This one had every element of beauty. Mr. Lowell was singularly handsome in his young manhood. ”

“ They spent the first year of their married life in Philadelphia, in deference to her delicate lungs. They lived with a Quaker family named Lamborn, and from Dr. Lamborn, their son, I heard many details later on of that year of happiness. James delighted to see Maria dress in the Quaker garb, which was becoming to her, and used to surprise the Quaker circle invited to tea by entering suddenly and kissing the demure Quaker sister — a joke which never failed to delight Mrs. Lamborn.
I did not see Mrs. Lowell after the death of her children, or when disease had made its ravages ”

“ Many distinguished men kept this opinion of her to their deaths. With such wonderful imagination and a genius like that of George Eliot, there was much that was morbid and unhealthy and strange in Margaret Fuller. ”

“ In one of my visits to Boston, it may have been in the spring of 1847, I was taken out to see Brook Farm, that experiment of Fourierism which led perhaps to the writing of the Blithedale Romance.
I knew very little of the writings of Fourier, or his romantic economic scheme that men and women Avere so perfect that they could all live together under one common roof, or in phalanxes, dividing the labor, and enjoying in groups of fifty or one hundred one common fire which should cook the common dinner. ”