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. . . . 
