rather than in ridicule. This means to say that her critical faculty was highly developed. She had high standards in literature as well as elsewhere, was exceedingly fastidious in her tastes, and this may partially account for the fact that she wrote so little poetry, for she would be her own severest critic in this way.
In Dr. Bushnell the notable quality was the union of intellectual and spiritual perception. This Miss Bushnell inherited, but she added to it something of the charm of her sex, the alertness, vivacity and gracefulness of mind, which made her seem to those who knew her best almost like one of Shelley's ethereal creations, a being compounded of fire and spirit. This ethereal quality, however, involved no instability, for with this lightness and grace went also great precision and justness, and a will power that was very pronounced in regard to conduct as well as control of her faculties. Her rare common-sense was also a saving quality in her intellectual brilliancy. She never surrendered her reason and could see in religion as well as in life what is essential, and what is extraneous or accidental or merely the creation of human superstition. Her spiritual perceptions were as clear as her intellectual, and she never doubted either the justice of God or the absolute love made manifest in the Redeemer of the world. I mention this because it is not always that so much humor and wit and gayety and intellectual keenness are accompanied by such high spiritual insight and real humility of spirit.
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