V. THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR 83 VI. INTELLECTUAL EXPERIENCES 118 VII. LETTERS AND WORK. 1861-1868 148 VIII. WRITINGS AND LETTERS. 1868-1880 172 IX. RELIGIOUS CHANGES. 1881-1884 200 X. UNDERCURRENTS. 1884-1889 222 XI. MEMBERSHIP IN THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 242 XII. LAST YEARS 257 INDEX 291 LUCY LARCOM. CHAPTER I. EARLY DAYS. 1824-1846. Lucy Larcom was born on March 5, 1824, in the old seaside town of Beverly, Massachusetts. She was next to the youngest in a family of seven sisters and two brothers. Her father, Benjamin Larcom, a retired shipmaster who became a shopkeeper selling West India goods, was a man of strong natural ability, and her mother, Lois Barrett, “with bright blue eyes and soft dark curling hair, which she kept pinned up under her white lace cap,” was known for her sweetness. The Larcoms had lived for generations on the borders of the sea. Mordecai Larcom, born 1629, appeared in Ipswich in 1655, and soon after moved to Beverly, where he obtained a grant of land. His son, Cornelius Larcom, born 1658, purchased a place on the coast, in what is known as Beverly Farms. David Larcom was born 1701, and his son, Jonathan, born 1742, was the grandfather of Miss Larcom. The qualities of energy and self-reliance that come from the cultivation of Essex County soil and the winning of a livelihood as trader and sailor, were apparent in the branch of the family that lived in Wallace Lane,--one of the by-streets of the quaint village, that led in one direction through the fields to Bass River, “running with its tidal water from inland hills,” and in the other across the main street to the harbor, with its fishing schooners and glimpses of the sea.