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A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
74
The
women
of
well-to-do
families
had
Canton
crape
shawls
and
Smyrna
silks
and
Turk
satins,
for
Sabbath-day
wear,
which
somebody
had
brought
home
for
them.
Mantel-pieces
were
adorned
with
nautilus
and
conch-shells,
and
with
branches
and
fans
of
coral;
and
children
had
foreign
curiosities
and
treasures
of
the
sea
for
playthings.
There
was
one
imported
shell
that
we
did
not
value
much,
it
was
so
abundant--the
freckled
univalve
they
called
a
"prop."
Yet
it
had
a
mysterious
interest
for
us
little
ones.
We
held
it
to
our
ears,
and
listened
for
the
sound
of
the
waves,
which
we
were
told
that,
it
still
kept,
and
always
would
keep.
I
remember
the
time
when
I
thought
that
the
ocean
was
really
imprisoned
somewhere
within
that
narrow
aperture.
We
were
accustomed
to
seeing
barrels
full
of
cocoa-nuts
rolled
about;
and
there
were
jars
of
preserved
tropical
fruits,
tamarinds,
ginger-root,
and
other
spicy
appetizers,
almost
as
common
as
barberries
and
cranberries,
in
the
cupboards
of
most
housekeepers.
I
wonder
what
has
become
of
those
many,
many
little
red
"guinea-peas"
we
had
to
play
with!
It
never
seemed
as
if
they
really
belonged
to
the
vegetable
world,
notwithstanding
their
name.
We
had
foreign
coins
mixed
in
with
our
large
copper
cents,--all
kinds,
from
the
Russian
"kopeck"
to
the
"half-penny
token"
of
Great
Britain.
Those
were
the
days
when
we
had
half
cents
in
circulation
to
make
change
with.
For
part
of
our
currency
was
the
old-fashioned
"ninepence,"--twelve
and
a
half
cents,
and
the
"four
pence
ha'penny,"--six
cents
and
a
quarter.
There
was
a
good
deal
of
Old
England
about
us
still.
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