Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
127
Well,
I
would
find
out
what
this
Myself
was
good
for,
and
that
she
should
be!
It
was
but
the
presumption
of
extreme
youth.
How
gladly
would
I
know
now,
after
these
long
years,
just
why
I
was
sent
into
the
world,
and
whether
I
have
in
any
degree
fulfilled
the
purpose
of
my
being!
In
the
older
times
it
was
seldom
said
to
little
girls,
as
it
always
has
been
said
to
boys,
that
they
ought
to
have
some
definite
plan,
while
they
were
children,
what
to
be
and
do
when
they
were
grown
up.
There
was
usually
but
one
path
open
before
them,
to
become
good
wives
and
housekeepers.
And
the
ambition
of
most
girls
was
to
follow
their
mothers'
footsteps
in
this
direction;
a
natural
and
laudable
ambition.
But
girls,
as
well
as
boys,
must
often
have
been
conscious
of
their
own
peculiar
capabilities,--must
have
desired
to
cultivate
and
make
use
of
their
individual
powers.
When
I
was
growing
up,
they
had
already
begun
to
be
encouraged
to
do
so.
We
were
often
told
that
it
was
our
duty
to
develop
any
talent
we
might
possess,
or
at
least
to
learn
how
to
do
some
one
thing
which
the
world
needed,
or
which
would
make
it
a
pleasanter
world.
When
I
thought
what
I
should
best
like
to
do,
my
first
dream--almost
a
baby's
dream--about
it
was
that
it
would
be
a
fine
thing
to
be
a
schoolteacher,
like
Aunt
Hannah.
Afterward,
when
I
heard
that
there
were
artists,
I
wished
I
could
some
time
be
one.
A
slate
and
pencil,
to
draw
pictures,
was
my
first
request
whenever
a
day's
ailment
kept
me
at
home
from
school;
and
I
rather
enjoyed
being
a
little
ill,
for
the
sake
of
amusing
myself
in
that
way.
The
wish
grew
up
with
me;
but
there
were
no
good
drawing-teachers
in
those
days,
and
if
there
had
been,
the
cost
of
instruction
would
have
been
beyond
the
family
means.
My
sister
Emilie,
however,
who
saw
my
taste
and
shared
it
herself,
did
her
best
to
assist
me,
furnishing
me
with
pencil
and
paper
and
paint-box.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
