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A New England girlhood

Book by Lucy Larcom · 16 quotes · Ifs, Children, Firsts

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A New England girlhood Quotes

“A tattered copy of Johnson's large Dictionary was a great delight to me, on account of the specimens of English versifications which I found in the Introduction. I learned them as if they were so many poems. I used to keep this old volume close to my pillow; and I amused myself when I awoke in the morning by reciting its jingling contrasts of iambic and trochaic and dactylic metre, and thinking what a charming occupation it must be to "make up" verses.”

IfsThinkingUsedPoetryFoundMorningPoetAccountsDelightCopiesOccupationContrastVersesVolumeCharmingIntroductionDictionaryJohnsonPillowAmusedReciting
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“It is a conquest when we can lift ourselves above the annoyances of circumstances over which we have no control; but it is a greater victory when we can make those circumstances our helpers,--when we can appreciate the good there is in them. It has often seemed to me as if Life stood beside me, looking me in the face, and saying, "Child, you must learn to like me in the form in which you see me, before I can offer myself to you in any other aspect.”

IfsLifeChildrenI CanFacesFormGreaterVictoryCircumstancesOffersAspectAppreciateLike MeLiftsHardshipConquestAnnoyanceHelpers
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“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. 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.”

WellsChildrenLittlesHas BeensSaidUseMotherGirlIndividualNaturalBoysPathWifePlansOughtAmbitionConsciousPeculiarCapabilityDefiniteFootstepsGood WifeHousekeepersIndividual Power
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“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.”

IfsStillsStoriesWould BeFormTreeWindBirdStormApplesSunshineFedsRipePetalsMotherly
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“I regard a love for poetry as one of the most needful and helpful elements in the life-outfit of a human being. It was the greatest of blessings to me, in the long days of toil to which I was shut in much earlier than most young girls are, that the poetry I held in my memory breathed its enchanted atmosphere through me and around me, and touched even dull drudgery with its sunshine.”

WritingHumansLongYoungPoetryGirlMemoriesHuman BeingsBlessingElementsRegardAtmosphereDullTouchedSunshineHelpfulToilEnchantedDrudgeryLong Day
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“The first real unhappiness I remember to have felt was when some one told me, one day, that I did not love God. I insisted, almost tearfully, that I did; but I was told that if I did truly love Him I should always be good. I knew I was not that, and the feeling of sudden orphanage came over me like a bewildering cloud.”

IfsShouldFirstsRealFeelingsRememberFeltOne DayCloudsBe GoodGod LoveUnhappinessOrphanage
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