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222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
173
I
was
too
young
a
contributor
to
be
at
first
of
much
value
to
either
periodical.
They
began
their
regular
issues,
I
think,
while
I
was
the
nursemaid
of
my
little
nephews
at
Beverly.
When
I
returned
to
Lowell,
at
about
sixteen,
I
found
my
sister
Emilie
interested
in
the
"Operatives'
Magazine,"
and
we
both
contributed
to
it
regularly,
until
it
was
merged
in
the
"Lowell
Offering,"
to
which
we
then
transferred
our
writing
efforts.
It
did
not
occur
to
us
to
call
these
efforts
"literary."
I
know
that
I
wrote
just
as
I
did
for
our
little
"Diving
Bell,"--as
a
sort
of
pastime,
and
because
my
daily
toil
was
mechanical,
and
furnished
no
occupation
for
my
thoughts.
Perhaps
the
fact
that
most
of
us
wrote
in
this
way
accounted
for
the
rather
sketchy
and
fragmentary
character
of
our
"Magazine."
It
gave
evidence
that
we
thought,
and
that
we
thought
upon
solid
and
serious
matters;
but
the
criticism
of
one
of
our
superintendents
upon
it,
very
kindly
given,
was
undoubtedly
just:
"It
has
plenty
of
pith,
but
it
lacks
point."
The
"Offering"
had
always
more
of
the
literary
spirit
and
touch.
It
was,
indeed,
for
the
first
two
years,
edited
by
a
gentleman
of
acknowledged
literary
ability.
But
people
seemed
to
be
more
interested
in
it
after
it
passed
entirely
into
the
bands
of
the
girls
themselves.
The
"Operatives'
Magazine"
had
a
decidedly
religious
tone.
We
who
wrote
for
it
were
loyal
to
our
Puritanic
antecedents,
and
considered
it
all-important
that
our
lightest
actions
should
be
moved
by
some
earnest
impulse
from
behind.
We
might
write
playfully,
but
there
must
be
conscience
and
reverence
somewhere
within
it
all.
We
had
been
taught,
and
we
believed,
that
idle
words
were
a
sin,
whether
spoken
or
written.
This,
no
doubt,
gave
us
a
gravity
of
expression
rather
unnatural
to
youth.
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