Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
194
I
had
received
a
pretty
thorough
drill
in
the
common
English
branches
at
the
grammar
school,
and
at
my
employment
I
only
needed
a
little
simple
arithmetic.
A
few
of
my
friends
were
studying
algebra
in
an
evening
class,
but
I
had
no
fancy
for
mathematics.
My
first
wish
was
to
learn
about
English
Literature,
to
go
back
to
its
very
beginnings.
It
was
not
then
studied
even
in
the
higher
schools,
and
I
knew
no
one
who
could
give
me
any
assistance
in
it,
as
a
teacher.
"Percy's
Reliques"
and
"Chambers'
Cyclopoedia
of
English
Literature"
were
in
the
city
library,
and
I
used
them,
making
extracts
from
Chaucer
and
Spenser,
to
fix
their
peculiarities
in
my
memory,
though
there
was
only
a
taste
of
them
to
be
had
from
the
Cyclopaedia.
Shakespeare
I
had
read
from
childhood,
in
a
fragmentary
way.
"The
Tempest,"
and
"Midsummer
Night's
Dream,"
and
"King
Lear,"
I
had
swallowed
among
my
fairy
tales.
Now
I
discovered
that
the
historical
plays,
notably,
"Julius
Caesar"
and
"Coriolanus,"
had
no
less
attraction
for
me,
though
of
a
different
kind.
But
it
was
easy
for
me
to
forget
that
I
was
trying
to
be
a
literary
student,
and
slip
off
from
Belmont
to
Venice
with
Portia
to
witness
the
discomfiture
of
Shylock;
although
I
did
pity
the
miserable
Jew,
and
thought
he
might
at
least
have
been
allowed
the
comfort
of
his
paltry
ducats.
I
do
not
think
that
any
of
my
studying
at
this
time
was
very
severe;
it
was
pleasure
rather
than
toil,
for
I
undertook
only
the
tasks
I
liked.
But
what
I
learned
remained
with
me,
nevertheless.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
