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222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
157
Every
kind
of
work
brings
its
own
compensations
and
attractions.
I
really
began
to
like
plain
sewing;
I
enjoyed
sitting
down
for
a
whole
afternoon
of
it,
fingers
flying
and
thoughts
flying
faster
still,--the
motion
of
the
hands
seeming
to
set
the
mind
astir.
Such
afternoons
used
to
bring
me
throngs
of
poetic
suggestions,
particularly
if
I
sat
by
an
open
window
and
could
hear
the
wind
blowing
and
a
bird
or
two
singing.
Nature
is
often
very
generous
in
opening
her
heart
to
those
who
must
keep
their
hands
employed.
Perhaps
it
is
because
she
is
always
quietly
at
work
herself,
and
so
sympathizes
with
her
busy
human
friends.
And
possibly
there
is
no
needful
occupation
which
is
wholly
unbeautiful.
The
beauty
of
work
depends
upon
the
way
we
meet
it--whether
we
arm
ourselves
each
morning
to
attack
it
as
an
enemy
that
must
be
vanquished
before
night
comes,
or
whether
we
open
our
eyes
with
the
sunrise
to
welcome
it
as
an
approaching
friend
who
will
keep
us
delightful
company
all
day,
and
who
will
make
us
feel,
at
evening,
that
the
day
was
well
worth
its
fatigues.
I
found
my
practical
experience
of
housekeeping
and
baby-tending
very
useful
to
me
afterwards
at
the
West,
in
my
sister
Emilie's
family,
when
she
was
disabled
by
illness.
I
think,
indeed,
that
every
item
of
real
knowledge
I
ever
acquired
has
come
into
use
somewhere
or
somehow
in
the
course
of
the
years.
But
these
were
not
the
things
I
had
most
wished
to
do.
The
whole
world
of
thought
lay
unexplored
before
me,--a
world
of
which
I
had
already
caught
large
and
tempting
glimpses,
and
I
did
not
like
to
feel
the
horizon
shutting
me
in,
even
to
so
pleasant
a
corner
as
this.
And
the
worst
of
it
was
that
I
was
getting
too
easy
and
contented,
too
indifferent
to
the
higher
realities
which
my
work
and
my
thoughtful
companions
had
kept
keenly
clear
before
me.
I
felt
myself
slipping
into
an
inward
apathy
from
which
it
was
hard
to
rouse
myself.
I
could
not
let
it
go
on
so.
I
must
be
where
my
life
could
expand.
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