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222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
182
And,
indeed,
what
we
wrote
was
not
remarkable,--perhaps
no
more
so
than
the
usual
school
compositions
of
intelligent
girls.
It
would
hardly
be
worth
while
to
refer
to
it
particularly,
had
not
the
Lowell
girls
and
their
magazines
been
so
frequently
spoken
of
as
something
phenomenal.
But
it
was
a
perfectly
natural
outgrowth
of
those
girls'
previous
life.
For
what
were
we?
Girls
who
were
working
in
a
factory
for
the
time,
to
be
sure;
but
none
of
us
had
the
least
idea
of
continuing
at
that
kind
of
work
permanently.
Our
composite
photograph,
had
it
been
taken,
would
have
been
the
representative
New
England
girlhood
of
those
days.
We
had
all
been
fairly
educated
at
public
or
private
schools,
and
many
of
us
were
resolutely
bent
upon
obtaining
a
better
education.
Very
few
were
among
us
without
some
distinct
plan
for
bettering
the
condition
of
themselves
and
those
they
loved.
For
the
first
time,
our
young
women
had
come
forth
from
their
home
retirement
in
a
throng,
each
with
her
own
individual
purpose.
For
twenty
years
or
so,
Lowell
might
have
been
looked
upon
as
a
rather
select
industrial
school
for
young
people.
The
girls
there
were
just
such
girls
as
are
knocking
at
the
doors
of
young
women's
colleges
to-day.
They
had
come
to
work
with
their
hands,
but
they
could
not
hinder
the
working
of
their
minds
also.
Their
mental
activity
was
overflowing
at
every
possible
outlet.
Many
of
them
were
supporting
themselves
at
schools
like
Bradford
Academy
or
Ipswich
Seminary
half
the
year,
by
working
in
the
mills
the
other
half.
Mount
Holyoke
Seminary
broke
upon
the
thoughts
of
many
of
them
as
a
vision
of
hope,--I
remember
being
dazzled
by
it
myself
for
a
while,--and
Mary
Lyon's
name
was
honored
nowhere
more
than
among
the
Lowell
mill-girls.
Meanwhile
they
were
improving
themselves
and
preparing
for
their
future
in
every
possible
way,
by
purchasing
and
reading
standard
books,
by
attending
lectures,
and
evening
classes
of
their
own
getting
up,
and
by
meeting
each
other
for
reading
and
conversation.
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