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222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
105
It
is
amusing
to
recall
the
rapid
succession
of
contrasts
in
one
child's
tastes.
I
felt
no
incongruity
between
Dr.
Watts
and
Mother
Goose.
I
supplemented
"Pibroch
of
Donuil
Dhu"
and
"Lochiel,
Lochiel,
beware
of
the
day,"
with
"Yankee
Doodle"
and
the
"Diverting
History
of
John
Gilpin;"
and
with
the
glamour
of
some
fairy
tale
I
had
just
read
still
haunting
me,
I
would
run
out
of
doors
eating
a
big
piece
of
bread
and
butter,--sweeter
than
any
has
tasted
since,--and
would
jump
up
towards
the
crows
cawing
high
above
me,
cawing
back
to
them,
and
half
wishing
I
too
were
a
crow
to
make
the
sky
ring
with
my
glee.
After
Dr.
Watts's
hymns
the
first
poetry
I
took
great
delight
in
greeted
me
upon
the
pages
of
the
"American
First
Class
Book,"
handed
down
from
older
pupils
in
the
little
private
school
which
my
sisters
and
I
attended
when
Aunt
Hannah
had
done
all
she
could
for
us.
That
book
was
a
collection
of
excellent
literary
extracts,
made
by
one
who
was
himself
an
author
and
a
poet.
It
deserved
to
be
called
"first-class"
in
another
sense
than
that
which
was
understood
by
its
title.
I
cannot
think
that
modern
reading
books
have
improved
upon
it
much.
It
contained
poems
from
Wordsworth,
passages
from
Shakespeare's
plays,
among
them
the
pathetic
dialogue
between
Hubert
and
little
Prince
Arthur,
whose
appeal
to
have
his
eyes
spared,
brought
many
a
tear
to
my
own.
Bryant's
"Waterfowl"
and
"Thanatopsis"
were
there
also;
and
Neal's,--
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