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222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
162
Yet
girlhood
seldom
appreciates
itself.
We
often
hear
a
girl
wishing
that
she
were
a
boy.
That
seems
so
strange!
God
made
no
mistake
in
her
creation.
He
sent
her
into
the
world
full
of
power
and
will
to
be
a
helper;
and
only
He
knows
how
much
his
world
needs
help.
She
is
here
to
make
this
great
house
of
humanity
a
habitable
and
a
beautiful
place,
without
and
within,--a
true
home
for
every
one
of
his
children.
It
matters
not
if
she
is
poor,
if
she
has
to
toil
for
her
daily
bread,
or
even
if
she
is
surrounded
by
coarseness
and
uncongeniality:
nothing
can
deprive
her
of
her
natural
instinct
to
help,
of
her
birthright
as
a
helper.
These
very
hindrances
may,
with
faith
and
patience,
develop
in
her
a
nobler
womanhood.
No;
let
girls
be
as
thankful
that
they
are
girls
as
that
they
are
human
beings;
for
they
also,
according
to
his
own
loving
plan
for
them,
were
created
in
the
image
of
God.
Their
real
power,
the
divine
dowry
of
womanhood,
is
that
of
receiving
and
giving
inspiration.
In
this
a
girl
often
surpasses
her
brother;
and
it
is
for
her
to
hold
firmly
and
faithfully
to
her
holiest
instincts,
so
that
when
he
lets
his
standard
droop,
she
may,
through
her
spiritual
strength,
be
a
standard
bearer
for
him.
Courage
and
self-reliance
are
now
held
to
be
virtues
as
womanly
as
they
are
manly;
for
the
world
has
grown
wise
enough
to
see
that
nothing
except
a
life
can
really
help
another
life.
It
is
strange
that
it
should
ever
have
held
any
other
theory
about
woman.
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