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222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
57
IV.
NAUGHTY
CHILDREN
AND
FAIRY
TALES.
ALTHOUGH
the
children
of
an
earlier
time
heard
a
great
deal
of
theological
discussion
which
meant
little
or
nothing
to
them,
there
was
one
thing
that
was
made
clear
and
emphatic
in
all
the
Puritan
training:
that
the
heavens
and
earth
stood
upon
firm
foundations--upon
the
Moral
Law
as
taught
in
the
Old
Testament
and
confirmed
by
the
New.
Whatever
else
we
did
not
understand,
we
believed
that
to
disobey
our
parents,
to
lie
or
steal,
had
been
forbidden
by
a
Voice
which
was
not
to
be
gainsaid.
People
who
broke
or
evaded
these
commands
did
so
willfully,
and
without
excusing
themselves,
or
being
excused
by
others.
I
think
most
of
us
expected
the
fate
of
Ananias
and
Sapphira,
if
we
told
what
we
knew
was
a
falsehood.
There
were
reckless
exceptions,
however.
A
playmate,
of
whom
I
was
quite
fond,
was
once
asked,
in
my
presence,
whether
she
had
done
something
forbidden,
which
I
knew
she
had
been
about
only
a
little
while
before.
She
answered
"No,"
and
without
any
apparent
hesitation.
After
the
person
who
made
the
inquiry
had
gone,
I
exclaimed,
with
horrified
wonder,
"How
could
you?"
Her
reply
was,
"Oh,
I
only
kind
of
said
no."
What
a
real
lie
was
to
her,
if
she
understood
a
distinct
denial
of
the
truth
as
only
"kind-of"
lying,
it
perplexed
me
to
imagine.
The
years
proved
that
this
lack
of
moral
perception
was
characteristic,
and
nearly
spoiled
a
nature
full
of
beautiful
gifts.
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