登陆注册
5391100000054

第54章 MILL-GIRLS'MAGAZINES(6)

And,indeed,what we wrote was not remarkable,--perhaps no more so than the usual school compositions of intelligent girls.It would hardly be worth while to refer to it particularly,had not the Lowell girls and their magazines been so frequently spoken of as something phenomenal.But it was a perfectly natural out-growth of those girls'previous life.For what were we?Girls who were working in a factory for the time,to be sure;but none of us had the least idea of continuing at that kind of work permanently.Our composite photograph,had it been taken,would have been the representative New England girlhood of those days.

We had all been fairly educated at public or private schools,and many of us were resolutely bent upon obtaining a better education.Very few were among us without some distinct plan for bettering the condition of themselves and those they loved.For the first time,our young women had come forth from their home retirement in a throng,each with her own individual purpose.

For twenty years or so,Lowell might have been looked upon as a rather select industrial school for young people.The girls there were just such girls as are knocking at the doors of young women's colleges to-day.They had come to work with their hands,but they could not hinder the working of their minds also.Their mental activity was overflowing at every possible outlet.

Many of them were supporting themselves at schools like Bradford Academy or Ipswich Seminary half the year,by working in the mills the other half.Mount Holyoke Seminary broke upon the thoughts of many of them as a vision of hope,--I remember being dazzled by it myself for a while,--and Mary Lyon's name was honored nowhere more than among the Lowell mill-girls.Meanwhile they were improving themselves and preparing for their future in every possible way,by purchasing and reading standard books,by attending lectures,and evening classes of their own getting up,and by meeting each other for reading and conversation.

That they should write was no more strange than that they should study,or read,or think.And yet there were those to whom it seemed incredible that a girl could,in the pauses of her work,put together words with her pen that it would do to print;and after a while the assertion was circulated,through some distant newspaper,that our magazine was not written by ourselves at all,but by "Lowell lawyers."This seemed almost too foolish a suggestion to contradict,but the editor of the "Offering"thought it best to give the name and occupation of some of the writers by way of refutation.It was for this reason (much against my own wish)that my real name was first attached to anything I wrote.I was then book-keeper in the cloth-room of the Lawrence Mills.We had all used any fanciful signature we chose,varying it as we pleased.After I began to read and love Wordsworth,my favorite nom de plume was "Rotha."In the later numbers of the magazine,the editor more frequently made us of my initials.One day I was surprised by seeing my name in full in Griswold's "Female Poet's;"--no great distinction,however,since there were a hundred names or so,besides.

It seemed necessary to give these gossip items about myself;but the real interest of every separate life-story is involved in the larger life-history which is going on around it.We do not know ourselves without our companions and surroundings.I cannot narrate my workmates'separate experiences,but I know that because of having lived among them,and because of having felt the beauty and power of their lives,I am different from what Ishould otherwise have been,and it is my own fault if I am not better for my life with them.

In recalling those years of my girlhood at Lowell,I often think that I knew then what real society is better perhaps than ever since.For in that large gathering together of young womanhood there were many choice natures---some of the choicest in all our excellent New England,and there were no false social standards to hold them apart.It is the best society when people meet sincerely,on the ground of their deepest sympathies and highest aspirations,without conventionality or cliques or affectation;and it was in that way that these young girls met and became acquainted with each other,almost of necessity.

There were all varieties of woman-nature among them,all degrees of refinement and cultivation,and,of course,many sharp contrasts of agreeable and disagreeable.It was not always the most cultivated,however,who were the most companionable.There were gentle,untaught girls,as fresh and simple as wild flowers,whose unpretending goodness of heart was better to have than bookishness;girls who loved everybody,and were loved by everybody.Those are the girls that I remember best,and their memory is sweet as a breeze from the clover fields.

As I recall the throngs of unknown girlish forms that used to pass and repass me on the familiar road to the mill-gates,and also the few that I knew so well,those with whom I worked,thought,read,wrote,studied,and worshiped,my thoughts send a heartfelt greeting to them all,wherever in God's beautiful,busy universe they may now be scattered:--"I am glad I have lived in the world with you!"

同类推荐
  • 金銮密记

    金銮密记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 司牧宝鉴

    司牧宝鉴

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 宝庆四明志

    宝庆四明志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 琼琚佩语

    琼琚佩语

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 权现金色迦那婆底九目天法

    权现金色迦那婆底九目天法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • The Fairy-Tale Detectives (Sisters Grimm #1)
  • 巴尔扎克短篇选

    巴尔扎克短篇选

    《巴尔扎克短篇选》本书分为《萨哈西妠》、《认不出的杰作》、《巴黎的一条街道和它的居民》等短文。
  • 国民妖精:首席老公,抱紧我

    国民妖精:首席老公,抱紧我

    她是艳绝天下的妖姬,他是威震天下的帝君,他为她情根深重,而她亲手杀了他。在如火如荼的战场上,御少寒望着她说:‘今生无缘与你并肩看天下,下一世只愿你终成所愿,携一人共白头。’颜倾慕望着那个骄傲的男人,护了她一世的男人,热泪涔涔流下,‘对不起,终究是我负了你,下一世你不要再遇见我了’这些话颜倾慕不敢对他说,她舍不得,也不甘心,而且她更害怕他又被她伤害,怕他真忘了自己,可自己于他从来只是负担,他被责任权力压了一辈子,他累了,她懂。可偏偏这个冷血无情的人,对她却如十月暖阳,让她年少时光芳菲四月天。‘少寒,下辈子你要忘了我’刀光现,帝君祭,妖姬隐,乱世灭,前世今生是凡尘。而在现代,他们终相见……
  • 不朽人皇

    不朽人皇

    随着万年一次的仙渊之争面临再度开启,大陆各方势力蠢蠢欲动,只为一窥仙机。也因此,一个风云际会的大时代正在到来。书友群:590718653
  • 女王重生:风华千金!

    女王重生:风华千金!

    前世落入一个又一个的阴险陷阱,被人嘲笑,被人辱骂。今世,她势要保护自己的家人,将一切被夺走的东西一件件拿回!势必要将一切还给那些害她欺她的渣男渣女!恶魔、腹黑、成熟冷静、撒娇卖萌都是她,在父母面前,她是乖乖女,在敌人面前,她是不可侵犯的女王!女王重生,风华千金!
  • 嚣张医妃:暴烈王爷独家爱

    嚣张医妃:暴烈王爷独家爱

    “王爷,好久不见。”兵临城下,他攻入她的宫门,黑眸阴鸷:“想要活,取悦我。”她本是医手遮天的淡定公主,为救族人,抛下尊严,他是名震天下的战神之王,为了她颠覆了整个天下,一将功成,他陪她笑看江山:“若不站在这高位,又怎么能护你一世安好?”残暴不仁的背后终是宁负天下不负她的深情。群号:68682853鸭爷官方微信公众平台:cxyyy1987,关于新书的消息发布,以及小说活动福利,都将在此公众平台号通知,千万别错过哦!
  • 暗影38万

    暗影38万

    登月计划中止三十多年后。美国突然宣布重启月球计划。几乎在同一时间,中国、日本、印度、欧盟、俄罗斯等纷纷宣布并开展登月计划。是什么让月球突然如此炙手可热?一艘航行在太平洋上的邮轮发生了诡秘的凶杀案。并且以极其灵异的方式,让一名中国记者突然成为杀人嫌犯。为了洗脱罪名,他从看守所中逃出,在一宗又一宗神秘事件里。慢慢接近真相。让他难以置信的是,在错综复杂的线索背后。一个三十八万公里外的巨大天体慢慢浮……
  • 穿越之傲娇王爷独宠妃

    穿越之傲娇王爷独宠妃

    名校研究生顾歆,成绩优异,还是校花,在一次野营中,因为遭人陷害,堕入悬崖,从而穿越到了南沐国,认识了皇上萧亦寒,和王爷萧旭,没想到竟陷入三角恋中。期间凭借着自己的聪明才智,和萧旭一起摆脱了一次又一次的困境,最终有情人终成眷属。
  • Water in May

    Water in May

    Fifteen-year-old Mari Pujols believes that the baby she's carrying will finally mean she' ll have a family member who will love her deeply and won't ever leave her—not like her mama, who took off when she was eight; or her papi, who's in jail; or her abuela, who wants as little to do with her as possible. But when doctors discover a potentially fatal heart defect in the fetus, Mari faces choices she never could have imagined. Surrounded by her loyal girl crew, her off-and-on boyfriend, and a dedicated doctor, Mari navigates a decision that could emotionally cripple the bravest of women. But both Mari and the broken-hearted baby inside her are fighters; and it doesn't take long to discover that this sick baby has the strength to heal an entire family. Inspired by true events, this gorgeous debut has been called “heartfelt, heartbreaking and—yes!—even a little heart-healing, too by bestselling YA novelist Carolyn Mackler.
  • 为自己开辟新航道

    为自己开辟新航道

    本书收录了马登先生思想的精华部分,希望可以给年轻人平淡的生活带来一丝慰藉。当你面临新的困境,希望人生有所改变时,请拿起本书,并且耐心地读下去。读完此书,你会发现很多人生的疑惑、不解,此时都已经豁然开朗。当代年轻人面临的问题可能是以往时代的人们所无法想象的,但是不管时代怎样变换更迭,人们安身立命的人生箴言是不会改变的,只会随着岁月的流逝呈现出新的意义而已。所以,在浮躁而忙碌的生活中,不妨给自己留下沉思和独处的空间。轻轻的打开本书,让经历过人生光荣与梦想的马登先生,以自己事业和人生的经验,告诉你接下来的人生将会面临什么,而你又应该以怎样的心态面对他们。