104 HELEN ABBOTT MICHAEL 



each question on its own merits, to let each concept to which the human 

 mind is open work out through a sequence to its logical conclusion; where 

 the individual's action need not necessarily be one with the full possibili- 

 ties of the conceptional outgrowth, but where the individual may partake of 

 equal actional with theoretical liberty if so he or she desires. In Free- 

 dom each being must stand alone and the conduct of another cannot be pre- 

 scribed by you or by me. Freedom is also a state wherein we are surely not 

 free to give ourselves up to unbridled passions, license, and vices. For once 

 we have resigned our leadership into their lawless hands, we can call our- 

 selves free no longer; we become enslaved men and women. Perhaps the 

 man and woman ruled by even the noblest themes lose in their devotion to 

 any one absorbing idea something of the essence of liberty." 



Again, in a few paragraphs written to a young woman con- 

 siderably younger than herself, she gives interesting glimpses 

 of her individuality. They are extracted from several letters 

 but are so characteristic that they find an appropriate place 

 here. She says in a letter written in 1896 : 



"I have been speaking on several occasions these past eight 

 days, for the time being I have seemed to run into these 

 public utterances. . . . Don't make any resolutions of what 

 you will or will not do during the coming winter. As you grow 

 older you will find your place in the great world of thought, 

 art, or action. Keep yourself free, until at least your thirtieth 

 year, from matrimony. You want these intervening years to 

 fill your being with knowledge which may later in your life 

 bring fruition. 



" Above all accept some idea as your ideal. I have found 

 mine in the theme of 'freedom' and 'liberty.' You must find 

 yours in what most appeals to you. But remember that all 

 thoughts of temporizing, or reform or philanthropy good 

 enough as expedients are not good enough as an ideal ulti- 

 mate aim. . . . But look to literature as one of the best means 

 of expressing yourself. . . . The topics gold and silver are 

 interesting enough, but there is a vast power at work now in 

 the world at destruction of all old systems of economics and 

 other social ones. . . . You will listen to all these arguments 

 and form your own opinions. Opinions, I need not say, are 

 always alive and changing. . . . 



