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Larcom, Lucy, 1824-1893

"A New England girlhood, outlined from memory (Beverly, MA)"


I began to reflect upon life rather seriously for a girl of
twelve or thirteen. What was I here for? What could I make of
myself? Must I submit to be carried along with the current, and
do just what everybody else did? No: I knew I should not do that,
for there was a certain Myself who was always starting up with
her own original plan or aspiration before me, and who was quite
indifferent as to what people, generally thought.
Well, I would find out what this Myself was good for, and that
she should be! It was but the presumption of extreme youth. How
gladly would I know now, after these long years, just why I was
sent into the world, and whether I have in any degree fulfilled
the purpose of my being!
In the older times it was seldom said to little girls, as it
always has been said to boys, that they ought to have some
definite plan, while they were children, what to be and do when
they were grown up. There was usually but one path open before
them, to become good wives and housekeepers.


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