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222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
130
All
my
thoughts
about
my
future
sent
me
back
to
Aunt
Hannah
and
my
first
infantile
idea
of
being
a
teacher.
I
foresaw
that
I
should
be
that
before
I
could
be
or
do
any
thing
else.
It
had
been
impressed
upon
me
that
I
must
make
myself
useful
in
the
world,
and
certainly
one
could
be
useful
who
could
"keep
school"
as
Aunt
Hannah
did.
I
did
not
see
anything
else
for
a
girl
to
do
who
wanted
to
use
her
brains
as
well
as
her
hands.
So
the
plan
of
preparing
myself
to
be
a
teacher
gradually
and
almost
unconsciously
shaped
itself
in
my
mind
as
the
only
practicable
one.
I
could
earn
my
living
in
that
way,--all-important
consideration.
I
liked
the
thought
of
self-support,
but
I
would
have
chosen
some
artistic
or
beautiful
work
if
I
could.
I
had
no
especial
aptitude
for
teaching,
and
no
absorbing
wish
to
be
a
teacher,
but
it
seemed
to
me
that
I
might
succeed
if
I
tried.
What
I
did
like
about
it
was
that
one
must
know
something
first.
I
must
acquire
knowledge
before
I
could
impart
it,
and
that
was
just
what
I
wanted.
I
could
be
a
student,
wherever
I
was
and
whatever
else
I
had
to
be
or
do,
and
I
would!
I
knew
I
should
write;
I
could
not
help
doing
that,
for
my
hand
seemed
instinctively
to
move
towards
pen
and
paper
in
moments
of
leisure.
But
to
write
anything
worth
while,
I
must
have
mental
cultivation;
so,
in
preparing
myself
to
teach,
I
could
also
be
preparing
myself
to
write.
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