This
makes the process an infinite one, not possible to be completed
at any school.
Returning from the West immediately after my graduation, I was
for ten years or so a teacher of young girls in seminaries much
like my own Alma Mater. The best result to me of that experience
has been the friendship of my pupils,--a happiness which must
last as long as life itself.
A book must end somewhere, and the natural boundary of this
narrative is drawn with my leaving New England for the West. I
was to outline the story of my youth for the young, though I
think many a one among them might tell a story far more
interesting than mine. The most beautiful lives seldom find their
way into print. Perhaps the most beautiful part of any life never
does. I should like to flatter myself so.
I could not stay at the West. It was never really home to me
there, and my sojourn of six or seven years on the prairies only
deepened my love and longing for the dear old State of
Massachusetts. I came back in the summer of 1852, and the
unwritten remainder of my sketch is chiefly that of a teacher's
and writer's experience; regarding which latter I will add, for
the gratification of those who have desired them, a few personal
particulars.
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