Lucy Larcom: Life, Letters, and Diary

Lucy Larcom: Life, Letters, and Diary

It was the purpose of Miss Larcom to write a sequel to her hook, A New England Girlhood, in which she intended to give some account of her life in the log-cabins on the Western prairies as a pioneer and schoolmistress, and her experiences as a teacher in Wheaton Seminary, and as an editor and literary woman. She also wished to trace the growth of her religious ideas by showing the process through which she was led to undergo changes that finally made her accept a less rigorous theology than the one in which she had been reared. Her fascinating style, with its wealth of reminiscence and interesting detail, would have characterized her later book, as it did the former, but she died before beginning it, and American literature has lost a valuable record of a womans life. A keen observer, her contact with famous men and women gave her an opportunity for a large knowledge of persons and events; deeply interested in the questions of the day, her comments would have been just and luminous; and her sensitiveness to impressions was such that the varied influences upon her life would have been most attractively[Pg iv] presented. She was deeply spiritual, and the account of her religious experiences would have supplemented the moral power of her published works; but she was not permitted to give us, in autobiographical form, the rich fruits of a well-spent life. The only preparation she had made for this book was a few notes suggesting a title and headings of the chapters. She proposed naming it, Hitherward: A Life-Path Retraced. The suggestions for chapters indicate the subjects that she intended to treat,The Charm of Elsewhere; Over the Prairies; Log-Cabin Experiences; A Pioneer Schoolmistress; Teacher and Student; Back to the Bay State; Undercurrents; Beneath Norton Elms; During the War; With Our Young Folks; Successful Failures; and Going On. After her death, her papers came into my possession. An examination showed that there was material enough in her letters and diary to preserve still some record of her later life, and possibly to continue the narrative which she had given in A New England Girlhood. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 55751
Author: Addison, Daniel Dulany
Release Date: Oct 14, 2017
Format: eBook
Language: English