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222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
216
Its
Principal--I
wonder
now
that
I
could
have
lived
so
near
her
for
a
year
without
becoming
acquainted
with
her,--but
her
high
local
reputation
as
an
intellectual
woman
inspired
me
with
awe,
and
I
was
foolishly
diffident.
One
day,
however,
upon
the
persuasion
of
my
friends
at
Vine
Lodge,
who
knew
my
wishes
for
a
higher
education,
I
went
with
them
to
call
upon
her.
We
talked
about
the
matter
which
had
been
in
my
thoughts
so
long,
and
she
gave
me
not
only
a
cordial
but
an
urgent
invitation
to
come
and
enroll
myself
as
a
student.
There
were
arrangements
for
those
who
could
not
incur
the
current
expenses,
to
meet
them
by
doing
part
of
the
domestic
work,
and
of
these
I
gladly
availed
myself.
The
stately
limestone
edifice,
standing
in
the
midst
of
an
original
growth
of
forest-trees,
two
or
three
miles
from
the
Mississippi
River,
became
my
home--my
student-home--for
three
years.
The
benefits
of
those
three
years
I
have
been
reaping
ever
since,
I
trust
not
altogether
selfishly.
It
was
always
my
desire
and
my
ambition
as
a
teacher,
to
help
my
pupils
as
my
teachers
had
helped
me.
The
course
of
study
at
Monticello
Seminary
was
the
broadest,
the
most
college-like,
that
I
have
ever
known;
and
I
have
had
experience
since
in
several
institutions
of
the
kind.
The
study
of
mediaeval
and
modern
history,
and
of
the
history
of
modern
philosophy,
especially,
opened
new
vistas
to
me.
In
these
our
Principal
was
also
our
teacher,
and
her
method
was
to
show
us
the
tendencies
of
thought,
to
put
our
minds
into
the
great
current
of
human
affairs,
leaving
us
to
collect
details
as
we
could,
then
or
afterward.
We
came
thus
to
feel
that
these
were
life-long
studies,
as
indeed
they
are.
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