VI.
JAMAICA PLAIN.
I.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
It was while Margaret was residing at Jamaica Plain,
in the summer of 1839, that we first really met as friends,
though for several years previous we had been upon
terms of kindest mutual regard. And, as the best way
of showing how her wonderful character opened upon
me, the growth of our acquaintance shall be briefly
traced.
The earliest recollection of Margaret is as a schoolmate
of my sisters, in Boston. At that period she was
considered a prodigy of talent and accomplishment; but
a sad feeling prevailed, that she had been overtasked by
her father, who wished to train her like a boy, and that
she was paying the penalty for undue application, in
nearsightedness, awkward manners, extravagant
tendencies of thought, and a pedantic style of talk, that
made her a butt for the ridicule of frivolous companions.
Some seasons later, I call to mind seeing, at the
“Commencements” and “Exhibitions” of Harvard University,
a girl, plain in appearance, but of dashing air, who
