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A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
171
Circumstances
are
only
the
keys
that
unlock
for
us
the
secret
of
ourselves;
and
I
learned
very
early
that
though
there
is
much
to
enjoy
in
this
beautiful
outside
world,
there
is
much
more
to
love,
to
believe
in,
and
to
seek,
in
the
invisible
world
out
of
which
it
all
grows.
What
has
best
revealed
our
true
selves
to
ourselves
must
be
most
helpful
to
others,
and
one
can
willingly
sacrifice
some
natural
reserves
to
such
an
end.
Besides,
if
we
tell
our
own
story
at
all,
we
naturally
wish
to
tell
the
truest
part
of
it.
Work,
study,
and
worship
were
interblended
in
our
life.
The
church
was
really
the
home-centre
to
many,
perhaps
to
most
of
us;
and
it
was
one
of
the
mill
regulations
that
everybody
should
go
to
church
somewhere.
There
must
have
been
an
earnest
group
of
ministers
at
Lowell,
since
nearly
all
the
girls
attended
public
worship
from
choice.
Our
minister
joined
us
in
our
social
gatherings,
often
inviting
us
to
his
own
house,
visiting
us
at
our
work,
accompanying
us
on
our
picnics
down
the
river-bank,--a
walk
of
a
mile
or
so
took
us
into
charmingly
picturesque
scenery,
and
we
always
walked,--suggesting
books
for
our
reading,
and
assisting
us
in
our
studies.
The
two
magazines
published
by
the
mill-girls,
the
"Lowell
Offering"
and
the
"Operatives'
Magazine,"
originated
with
literary
meetings
in
the
vestry
of
two
religious
societies,
the
first
in
the
Universalist
Church,
the
second
in
the
First
Congregational,
to
which
my
sister
and
I
belonged.
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