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222
A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
79
This
book
gave
me
a
morbid,
unhappy
feeling,
while
yet
it
had
something
of
the
fascination
of
the
"Pilgrim's
Progress,"
of
which
it
is
an
imitation.
I
fancied
myself
followed
about
by
a
fiend-like
boy
who
haunted
its
pages,
called
"Inbred-Sin;"
and
the
story
implied
that
there
was
no
such
thing
as
getting
rid
of
him.
I
began
to
dislike
all
boys
on
his
account.
There
was
one
who
tormented
my
sister
and
me--we
only
knew
him
by
name--by
jumping
out
at
us
from
behind
doorways
or
fences
on
our
way
to
school,
making
horrid
faces
at
us.
"Inbred-Sin,"
I
was
certain,
looked
just
like
him;
and
the
two,
strangely
blended
in
one
hideous
presence,
were
the
worst
nightmare
of
my
dreams.
There
was
too
much
reality
about
that
"Inbreed-Sin."
I
felt
that
I
was
acquainted
with
him.
He
was
the
hateful
hero
of
the
little
allegory,
as
Satan
is
of
"Paradise
Lost."
I
liked
lessons
that
came
to
me
through
fables
and
fairy
tales,
although,
in
reading
Aesop,
I
invariably
skipped
the
"moral"
pinned
on
at
the
end,
and
made
one
for
myself,
or
else
did
without.
Mrs.
Lydia
Maria
Child's
story
of
"The
Immortal
Fountain,"
in
the
"Girl's
Own
Book,"--which
it
was
the
joy
of
my
heart
to
read,
although
it
preached
a
searching
sermon
to
me,--I
applied
in
the
same
way
that
I
did
the
"Infant's
Progress."
I
thought
of
Lida
as
the
gentle,
unselfish
Rose,
and
myself
as
the
ugly
Marion.
She
was
patient
and
obliging,
and
I
felt
that
I
was
the
reverse.
She
was
considered
pretty,
and
I
knew
that
I
was
the
reverse
of
that,
too.
I
wondered
if
Lida
really
had
bathed
in
the
Immortal
Fountain,
and
oh,
how
I
wished
I
could
find
the
way
there!
But
I
feared
that
trying
to
do
so
would
be
of
no
use;
the
fairies
would
cross
their
wands
to
keep
me
back,
and
their
wings
would
darken
at
my
approach.
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