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A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
139
It
was
a
cluster
of
very
conscious-looking
little
girls
that
assembled
one
evening
in
the
attic
room,
chosen
on
account
of
its
remoteness
from
intruders
(for
we
did
not
admit
even
the
family
as
a
public,
the
writers
themselves
were
the
only
audience),
to
listen
to
the
reading
of
our
first
paper.
We
took
Saturday
evening,
because
that
was
longer
than
the
other
workday
evenings,
the
mills
being
closed
earlier.
Such
guessing
and
wondering
and
admiring
as
we
had!
But
nobody
would
acknowledge
her
own
work,
for
that
would
have
spoiled
the
pleasure.
Only
there
were
certain
wise
hints
and
maxims
that
we
knew
never
came
from
any
juvenile
head
among
us,
and
those
we
set
down
as
"editorials."
Some
of
the
stories
contained
rather
remarkable
incidents.
One,
written
to
illustrate
a
little
girl's
habit
of
carelessness
about
her
own
special
belongings,
told
of
her
rising
one
morning,
and
after
hunting
around
for
her
shoes
half
an
hour
or
so,
finding
them
in
the
book-case,
where
she
had
accidentally
locked
them
up
the
night
before!
To
convince
myself
that
I
could
write
something
besides
rhymes,
I
had
attempted
an
essay
of
half
a
column
on
a
very
extensive
subject,
"MIND."
It
began
loftily:--
"What
a
noble
and
beautiful
thing
is
mind!"
and
it
went
on
in
the
same
high-flown
strain
to
no
particular
end.
But
the
editor
praised
it,
after
having
declined
the
verdict
of
the
audience
that
she
was
its
author;
and
I
felt
sufficiently
flattered
by
both
judgments.
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