Lucy Larcom, who as a child followed her mother into working in the New England mills, became an author, seminary teacher, magazine editor, and poet who transformed her common spiritual experiences into an uncommon American tapestry. As a child, she read The Pilgrim's Progress (1678-1684) and other English poetic works in a home that religiously studied the Bible. In addition, Larcom is said to have enjoyed most of the sermons of F. W. Robertson. She said of his Sermons (1861-1866) that scarcely anything she had read had been so inspiring and suggestive. This intensive training in religious studies was reflected in her writings throughout a life that spanned nearly three-quarters of a century. She is chiefly remembered for her recollections about this early life of discipline, documented in A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (1889). Larcom writes, "Our parents considered it a duty that they owed to the...