Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) was a member of the Transcendentalist circle that included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. She was the editor of the Transcendentalist journal, The Dial, and author of Woman in the Nineteenth Century. Between June 1837 and December 1838 she taught at the Greene Street School in Providence, Rhode Island. Like all students of the school, Elvina Metcalf was obliged to record her thoughts and activities in a journal. The journal, written between December 3, 1838 and January 9, 1839, covers the last two weeks of Margaret Fuller’s time at the Greene Street School and it provides a fascinating firsthand account of a student’s perception of Fuller as a teacher and mentor. 

Wednesday 12th DecemberThis is the last lesson we shall have in Moral Philosophy with Miss Fuller and I never expect to find another such teacher.Her experience has been great and she is well acquainted with human nature. She has a heart that can sympathize with all, she can rejoice with those that rejoice and weep with those that weep.Such a heart we do not often see united with so great an intellect and blessed are those who can be taught by her even if it is a short time. Would that there were more like her in this world, how very different the state of society would be if one half the women that composed it had the high, exalted views of Miss Fuller.May those who have been under her care show that her teachings have not been in vain and though she is no longer to our teacher in this school let us remember that she may ever be an example for us and that we can draw moral lessons from everything around.