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222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
42
"See
Israel's
gentle
Shepherd
stands;"
and
the
chapter
was
the
third
of
St.
Matthew,
containing
the
story
of
our
Lord's
baptism.
I
could
not
make
out
any
special
message
for
us,
until
he
came
to
the
words,
"Whose
fan
is
in
his
hand."
That
must
be
it!
I
looked
anxiously
at
my
sisters,
to
see
if
they
had
brought
their
fans.
It
was
warm
weather,
and
I
had
taken
a
little
one
of
my
own
to
meeting.
Believing
that
I
was
following
a
direct
instruction,
I
clasped
my
fan
to
my
bosom
and
held
it
there
as
we
walked
up
the
aisle,
and
during
the
ceremony,
wondering
why
the
others
did
not
do
so,
too.
The
baby
in
my
mother's
arms--Octavia,
the
eighth
daughter--shocked
me
by
crying
a
little,
but
I
tried
to
behave
the
better
on
that
account.
It
all
seemed
very
solemn
and
mysterious
to
me.
I
knew
from
my
father's
and
mother's
absorbed
manner
then,
and
when
we
returned
from
church,
that
it
was
something
exceedingly
important
to
Them--something
that
they
wished
us
neither
to
talk
about
nor
to
forget.
I
never
did
forget
it.
There
remained
within
me
a
sweet,
haunting
feeling
of
having
come
near
the
"gentle
Shepherd"
of
the
hymn,
who
was
calling
the
lambs
to
his
side.
The
chapter
had
ended
with
the
echo
of
a
voice
from
heaven,
and
with
the
glimpse
of
a
descending
Dove.
And
the
water-drops
on
my
forehead,
were
they
not
from
that
"pure
river
of
water
of
life,
clear
as
crystal,"
that
made
music
through
those
lovely
verses
in
the
last
chapter
of
the
good
Book?
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