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A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
147
Her
bereavements
had
given
an
appealing
sadness
to
her
whole
expression;
but
she
had
accepted
them
and
her
changed
circumstances
with
the
submission
of
profound
faith
which
everybody
about
her
felt
in
everything
she
said
and
did.
I
think
I
first
knew,
through
her,
how
character
can
teach,
without
words.
To
see
her
and
her
little
niece
together
was
almost
like
looking
at
a
picture
of
the
Madonna.
Caroline
afterwards
became
an
inmate
of
my
mother's
family,
and
we
were
warm
friends
until
her
death
a
few
years
ago.
Some
of
the
girls
could
not
believe
that
the
Bible
was
meant
to
be
counted
among
forbidden
books.
We
all
thought
that
the
Scriptures
had
a
right
to
go
wherever
we
went,
and
that
if
we
needed
them
anywhere,
it
was
at
our
work.
I
evaded
the
law
by
carrying
some
leaves
from
a
torn
Testament
in
my
pocket.
The
overseer,
caring
more
for
law
than
gospel,
confiscated
all
he
found.
He
had
his
desk
full
of
Bibles.
It
sounded
oddly
to
hear
him
say
to
the
most
religious
girl
in
the
room,
when
he
took
hers
away,
"I
did
think
you
had
more
conscience
than
to
bring
that
book
here."
But
we
had
some
close
ethical
questions
to
settle
in
those
days.
It
was
a
rigid
code
of
morality
under
which
we
lived.
Nobody
complained
of
it,
however,
and
we
were
doubtless
better
off
for
its
strictness,
in
the
end.
The
last
window
in
the
row
behind
me
was
filled
with
flourishing
house-plants--fragrant
leaved
geraniums,
the
overseer's
pets.
They
gave
that
corner
a
bowery
look;
the
perfume
and
freshness
tempted
me
there
often.
Standing
before
that
window,
I
could
look
across
the
room
and
see
girls
moving
backwards
and
forwards
among
the
spinning-frames,
sometimes
stooping,
sometimes
reaching
up
their
arms,
as
their
work
required,
with
easy
and
not
ungraceful
movements.
On
the
whole,
it
was
far
from
being
a
disagreeable
place
to
stay
in.
The
girls
were
bright-looking
and
neat,
and
everything
was
kept
clean
and
shining.
The
effect
of
the
whole
was
rather
attractive
to
strangers.
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