Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
41
I
do
not
remember
anything
that
the
preacher
ever
said,
except
some
words
which
I
thought
sounded
well,--such
as
"dispensations,"
"decrees,"
"ordinances,"
"covenants,"--although
I
attached
no
meaning
to
them.
He
seemed
to
be
trying
to
explain
the
Bible
by
putting
it
into
long
words.
I
did
not
understand
them
at
all.
It
was
from
Aunt
Hannah
that
I
received
my
first
real
glimpses
of
the
beautiful
New
Testament
revelation.
In
her
unconscious
wisdom
she
chose
for
me
passages
and
chapters
that
were
like
openings
into
heaven.
They
contained
the
great,
deep
truths
which
are
simple
because
they
are
great.
It
was
not
explanations
of
those
grand
words
that
I
required,
or
that
anybody
requires.
In
reading
them
we
are
all
children
together,
and
need
only
to
be
led
to
the
banks
of
the
river
of
God,
which
is
full
of
water,
that
we
may
look
down
into
its
pellucid
depths
for
ourselves.
Our
minister
was
not
unlike
other
ministers
of
the
time,
and
his
seeming
distance
from
his
congregation
was
doubtless
owing
to
the
deep
reverence
in
which
the
ministerial
office
was
universally
held
among
our
predecessors.
My
own
graven-image
worship
of
him
was
only
a
childish
exaggeration
of
the
general
feeling
of
grown
people
around
me.
He
seemed
to
us
an
inhabitant
of
a
Sabbath-day
sphere,
while
we
belonged
to
the
every-day
world.
I
distinctly
remember
the
day
of
my
christening,
when
I
was
between
three
and
four
years
old.
My
parents
did
not
make
a
public
profession
of
their
faith
until
after
the
birth
of
all
their
children,
eight
of
whom--I
being
my
father's
ninth
child
and
seventh
daughter--were
baptized
at
one
time.
My
two
half-sisters
were
then
grown-up
young
women.
My
mother
had
told
us
that
the
minister
would
be
speaking
directly
to
us,
and
that
we
must
pay
close
attention
to
what
he
said.
I
felt
that
it
was
an
important
event,
and
I
wished
to
do
exactly
what
the
minister
desired
of
me.
I
listened
eagerly
while
he
read
the
chapter
and
the
hymn.
The
latter
was
one
of
my
favorites:--
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
