The Project Gutenberg EBook of A New England Girlhood, by Lucy Larcom

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Title: A New England Girlhood

Author: Lucy Larcom

Posting Date: March 21, 2009 [EBook #2293]
Release Date: August, 2000

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A NEW ENGLAND GIRLHOOD ***

Produced by Susan L. Farley. HTML version by Al Haines.

Project Gutenberg/Make a Difference Day Project 1999.

A NEW ENGLAND GIRLHOOD

OUTLINED FROM MEMORY

By

LUCY LARCOM

I dedicated this sketch
To my girlfriends in general;
And in particular
To my namesake-niece,
Lucy Larcom Spaulding.

Happy those early days, when I
Shined in my angel-infancy!
--When on some gilded cloud or flower
My gazing soul would dwell an hour,
And in those weaker glories spy
Some shadows of eternity:--
Before I taught my tongue to wound
My conscience by a sinful sound;--
But felt through all this fleshy dress
Bright shoots of everlastingness.

HENRY VAUGHAN

The thought of our past years in me doth breed
Perpetual benediction.

WORDSWORTH

PREFACE

THE following sketch was written for the young, at the suggestion of
friends.

My audience is understood to be composed of girls of all ages, and of
women who have not forgotten their girlhood. Such as have a friendly
appreciation of girls--and of those who write for them--are also
welcome to listen to as much of my narrative as they choose. All others
are eavesdroppers, and, of course, have no right to criticise.

To many, the word "autobiography" implies nothing but conceit and
egotism. But these are not necessarily its characteristics. If an apple
blossom or a ripe apple could tell its own story, it would be, still
more than its own, the story of the sunshine that smiled upon it, of
the winds that whispered to it, of the birds that sang around it, of
the storms that visited it, and of the motherly tree that held it and
fed it until its petals were unfolded and its form developed.

A complete autobiography would indeed be a picture of the outer and
inner universe photographed upon one little life's consciousness. For
does