Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
205
Things
have
happened,
and
changes
have
come.
The
New
England
that
has
grown
up
with
the
last
fifty
years
is
not
at
all
the
New
England
that
our
fathers
knew.
We
speak
of
having
been
reared
under
Puritanic
influences,
but
the
traditionary
sternness
of
these
was
much
modified,
even
in
the
childhood
of
the
generation
to
which
I
belong.
We
did
not
recognize
the
grim
features
of
the
Puritan,
as
we
used
sometimes
to
read
about
him,
in
our
parents
or
relatives.
And
yet
we
were
children
of
the
Puritans.
Everything
that
was
new
or
strange
came
to
us
at
Lowell.
And
most
of
the
remarkable
people
of
the
day
came
also.
How
strange
it
was
to
see
Mar
Yohannan,
a
Nestorian
bishop,
walking
through
the
factory
yard
in
his
Oriental
robes
with
more
than
a
child's
wonder
on
his
face
at
the
stir
and
rush
of
everything!
He
came
from
Boston
by
railroad,
and
was
present
at
the
wedding
at
the
clergyman's
house
where
he
visited.
The
rapidity
of
the
simple
Congregational
service
astonished
him.
"What?
Marry
on
railroad,
too?"
he
asked.
Dickens
visited
Lowell
while
I
was
there,
and
gave
a
good
report
of
what
he
saw
in
his
"American
Notes."
We
did
not
leave
work
even
to
gaze
at
distinguished
strangers,
so
I
missed
seeing
him.
But
a
friend
who
did
see
him
sketched
his
profile
in
pencil
for
me
as
he
passed
along
the
street.
He
was
then
best
known
as
"Boz."
Many
of
the
prominent
men
of
the
country
were
in
the
habit
of
giving
Lyceum
lectures,
and
the
Lyceum
lecture
of
that
day
was
a
means
of
education,
conveying
to
the
people
the
results
of
study
and
thought
through
the
best
minds.
At
Lowell
it
was
more
patronized
by
the
mill-people
than
any
mere
entertainment.
We
had
John
Quincy
Adams,
Edward
Everett,
John
Pierpont,
and
Ralph
Waldo
Emerson
among
our
lecturers,
with
numerous
distinguished
clergymen
of
the
day.
Daniel
Webster
was
once
in
the
city,
trying
a
law
case.
Some
of
my
girl
friends
went
to
the
court-room
and
had
a
glimpse
of
his
face,
but
I
just
missed
seeing
him.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
