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A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
28
The
towns
through
which
our
stage-coach
passed
sometimes
called
it
the
"bean-pot."
The
Jehn
who
drove
it
was
something
of
a
wag.
Once,
coming
through
Charlestown,
while
waiting
in
the
street
for
a
resident
passenger,
he
was
hailed
by
another
resident
who
thought
him
obstructing
the
passage,
with
the
shout,--
"Halloo
there!
Get
your
old
bean-pot
out
of
the
way!"
"I
will,
when
I
have
got
my
pork
in,"
was
the
ready
reply.
What
the
sobriquet
of
Charlestown
was,
need
not
be
explained.
We
had
a
good
opportunity
to
watch
both
coaches,
as
my
father's
shop
was
just
at
the
head
of
the
lane,
and
we
went
to
school
upstairs
in
the
same
building.
After
he
left
off
going
to
sea,--before
my
birth,--my
father
took
a
store
for
the
sale
of
what
used
to
be
called
"West
India
goods,"
and
various
other
domestic
commodities.
The
school
was
kept
by
a
neighbor
whom
everybody
called
"Aunt
Hannah."
It
took
in
all
the
little
ones
about
us,
no
matter
how
young
they
were,
provided
they
could
walk
and
talk,
and
were
considered
capable
of
learning
their
letters.
A
ladder-like
flight
of
stairs
on
the
outside
of
the
house
led
up
to
the
schoolroom,
and
another
flight,
also
outside,
took
us
down
into
a
bit
of
a
garden,
where
grew
tansy
and
spearmint
and
southernwood
and
wormwood,
and,
among
other
old-fashioned
flowers,
an
abundance
of
many-tinted
four
o'clocks,
whose
regular
afternoon-opening
just
at
the
close
of
school,
was
a
daily
wonder
to
us
babies.
From
the
schoolroom
window
we
could
watch
the
slow
hands
of
the
town
clock
and
get
a
peep
at
what
was
going
on
in
the
street,
although
there
was
seldom
anybody
in
sight
except
the
Colonel's
gardener
or
coachman,
going
into
or
out
of
the
driveway
directly
opposite.
It
was
a
very
still
street;
the
front
windows
of
the
houses
were
generally
closed,
and
a
few
military-looking
Lombardy
poplars
stood
like
sentinels
on
guard
before
them.
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