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A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)
·
Lucy Larcom
92
"A
bundle
of
fagots!
A
bundle
of
fagots!"
In
a
third,
which
may
have
begun
with
a
juvenile
reacting
of
the
Colonial
struggle
for
liberty,
we
ranged
ourselves
under
two
leaders,
who
made
an
archway
over
our
heads
of
their
lifted
hands
and
arms,
saying,
as
we
passed
beneath,--
"Lift
up
the
gates
as
high
as
the
sky,
And
let
King
George
and
his
army
pass
by!"
We
were
told
to
whisper
"Oranges"
or
"Lemons"
for
a
pass-word;
and
"Oranges"
always
won
the
larger
enlistment,
whether
British
or
American.
And
then
there
was
"Grandmother
Gray,"
and
the
"Old
woman
from
Newfoundland,
With
all
her
children
in
her
hand;"
and
the
"Knight
from
Spain
Inquiring
for
your
daughter
Jane,"
and
numberless
others,
nearly
all
of
them
bearing
a
distinct
Old
World
flavor.
One
of
our
play-places
was
an
unoccupied
end
of
the
burying-ground,
overhung
by
the
Colonel's
apple-trees
and
close
under
his
wall,
so
that
we
should
not
be
too
near
the
grave-stones.
I
do
not
think
that
death
was
at
all
a
real
thing
to
me
or
to
my
brothers
and
sisters
at
this
time.
We
lived
so
near
the
graveyard
that
it
seemed
merely
the
extension
of
our
garden.
We
wandered
there
at
will,
trying
to
decipher
the
moss-grown
inscriptions,
and
wondering
at
the
homely
carvings
of
cross-bones
and
cherubs
and
willow-trees
on
the
gray
slate-stones.
I
did
not
associate
those
long
green
mounds
with
people
who
had
once
lived,
though
we
were
careful,
having
been
so
instructed,
not
to
step
on
the
graves.
To
ramble
about
there
and
puzzle
ourselves
with
the
names
and
dates,
was
like
turning
over
the
pages
of
a
curious
old
book.
We
had
not
the
least
feeling
of
irreverence
in
taking
the
edge
of
the
grave-yard
for
our
playground.
It
was
known
as
"the
old
burying-ground";
and
we
children
regarded
it
with
a
sort
of
affectionate
freedom,
as
we
would
a
grandmother,
because
it
was
old.
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