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A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
17
I
know
that
he
was
a
studious
man,
fond
of
what
was
called
"solid
reading."
He
delighted
in
problems
of
navigation
(he
was
for
many
years
the
master
of
a
merchant-vessel
sailing
to
various
European
ports),
in
astronomical
calculations
and
historical
computations.
A
rhyming
genius
in
the
town,
who
undertook
to
hit
off
the
peculiarities
of
well-known
residents,
characterized
my
father
as
"Philosophic
Ben,
Who,
pointing
to
the
stars,
cries,
Land
ahead!"
His
reserved,
abstracted
manner,--though
his
gravity
concealed
a
fund
of
rare
humor,--kept
us
children
somewhat
aloof
from
him;
but
my
mother's
temperament
formed
a
complete
contrast
to
his.
She
was
chatty
and
social,
rosy-cheeked
and
dimpled,
with
bright
blue
eyes
and
soft,
dark,
curling
hair,
which
she
kept
pinned
up
under
her
white
lace
cap-border.
Not
even
the
eldest
child
remembered
her
without
her
cap,
and
when
some
of
us
asked
her
why
she
never
let
her
pretty
curls
be
visible,
she
said,--
"Your
father
liked
to
see
me
in
a
cap.
I
put
it
on
soon
after
we
were
married,
to
please
him;
I
always
have
worn
it,
and
I
always
shall
wear
it,
for
the
same
reason."
My
mother
had
that
sort
of
sunshiny
nature
which
easily
shifts
to
shadow,
like
the
atmosphere
of
an
April
day.
Cheerfulness
held
sway
with
her,
except
occasionally,
when
her
domestic
cares
grew
too
overwhelming;
but
her
spirits
rebounded
quickly
from
discouragement.
Her
father
was
the
only
one
of
our
grandparents
who
had
survived
to
my
time,--of
French
descent,
piquant,
merry,
exceedingly
polite,
and
very
fond
of
us
children,
whom
he
was
always
treating
to
raisins
and
peppermints
and
rules
for
good
behavior.
He
had
been
a
soldier
in
the
Revolutionary
War,--the
greatest
distinction
we
could
imagine.
And
he
was
also
the
sexton
of
the
oldest
church
in
town,--the
Old
South,--and
had
charge
of
the
winding-up
of
the
town
clock,
and
the
ringing
of
the
bell
on
week-days
and
Sundays,
and
the
tolling
for
funerals,--into
which
mysteries
he
sometimes
allowed
us
youngsters
a
furtive
glimpse.
I
did
not
believe
that
there
was
another
grandfather
so
delightful
as
ours
in
all
the
world.
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