And the ambition of
most girls was to follow their mothers' footsteps in this
direction; a natural and laudable ambition. But girls, as well as
boys, must often have been conscious of their own peculiar
capabilities,--must have desired to cultivate and make use of
their individual powers. When I was growing up, they had already
begun to be encouraged to do so. We were often told that it was
our duty to develop any talent we might possess, or at least to
learn how to do some one thing which the world needed, or which
would make it a pleasanter world.
When I thought what I should best like to do, my first dream--
almost a baby's dream--about it was that it would be a fine thing
to be a schoolteacher, like Aunt Hannah. Afterward, when I heard
that there were artists, I wished I could some time be one. A
slate and pencil, to draw pictures, was my first request whenever
a day's ailment kept me at home from school; and I rather enjoyed
being a little ill, for the sake of amusing myself in that way.
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