Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
76
The
pathos
of
the
sea
haunted
the
town,
made
audible
to
every
ear
when
a
coming
northeaster
brought
the
rote
of
the
waves
in
from
the
islands
across
the
harbor-bar,
with
a
moaning
like
that
we
heard
when
we
listened
for
it
in
the
shell.
Almost
every
house
had
its
sea-tragedy.
Somebody
belonging
to
it
had
been
shipwrecked,
or
had
sailed
away
one
day,
and
never
returned.
Our
own
part
of
the
bay
was
so
sheltered
by
its
islands
that
there
were
seldom
any
disasters
heard
of
near
home,
although
the
names
of
the
two
nearest--Great
and
Little
Misery--are
said
to
have
originated
with
a
shipwreck
so
far
back
in
the
history
of
the
region
that
it
was
never
recorded.
But
one
such
calamity
happened
in
my
infancy,
spoken
of
always
by
those
who
knew
its
victims
in
subdued
tones;--the
wreck
of
the
"Persia."
The
vessel
was
returning
from
the
Mediterranean,
and
in
a
blinding
snow-storm
on
a
wild
March
night
her
captain
probably
mistook
one
of
the
Cape
Ann
light-houses
for
that
on
Baker's
Island,
and
steered
straight
upon
the
rocks
in
a
lonely
cove
just
outside
the
cape.
In
the
morning
the
bodies
of
her
dead
crew
were
found
tossing
about
with
her
cargo
of
paper-manufacturers'
rags,
among
the
breakers.
Her
captain
and
mate
were
Beverly
men,
and
their
funeral
from
the
meeting-house
the
next
Sabbath
was
an
event
which
long
left
its
solemnity
hanging
over
the
town.
We
were
rather
a
young
nation
at
this
time.
The
History
of
the
United
States
could
only
tell
the
story
of
the
American
Revolution,
of
the
War
of
1812,
and
of
the
administration
of
about
half
a
dozen
presidents.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
