CONCLUSION.
TO MY FATHER,
ON HIS EIGHTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY.
Dear Pilgrim, waiting patiently,
The long, long journey nearly done,
Beside the sacred stream that flows
Clear shining in the western sun;
Look backward on the varied road
Your steadfast feet have trod,
From youth to age, through weal and woe,
Climbing forever nearer God.
Mountain and valley lie behind;
The slough is crossed, the wicket passed;
Doubt and despair, sorrow and sin,
Giant and fiend, conquered at last.
Neglect is changed to honor now;
The heavy cross may be laid down;
The white head wins and wears at length
The prophet's, not the martyr's, crown.
Greatheart and Faithful gone before,
Brave Christiana, Mercy sweet,
Are Shining Ones who stand and wait
The weary wanderer to greet.
Patience and Love his handmaids are,
And till time brings release,
Christian may rest in that bright room
Whose windows open to the east.
The staff set by, the sandals off,
Still pondering the precious scroll,
Serene and strong, he waits the call
That frees and wings a happy soul.
Then, beautiful as when it lured
The boy's aspiring eyes,
Before the pilgrim's longing sight
Shall the Celestial City rise.
_November_ 29, 1885.
L. M. A.
Miss Alcott's appearance was striking and impressive rather than
beautiful. Her figure was tall and well-proportioned, indicating
strength and activity, and she walked with freedom and majesty. Her
head was large, and her rich brown hair was long and luxuriant, giving
a sense of fulness and richness of life to her massive features. While
thoroughly unconventional, and even free and easy in her manner, she
had a dignity of deportment which prevented undue liberties, and made
intruders stand in awe of her. Generous in the extreme in serving
others, she knew her own rights, and did not allow them to be trampled
on. She repelled "the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy
takes," and had much of the Burns spirit that sings "A man's a man for
a' that" in the presence of insolent grandeur.
Miss Alcott always took her stand not for herself, but for her family,
her class, her sex. The humblest writer should not be imposed upon in
her person; every woman should be braver and stronger from her
attitude. She was careless of outward distinctions; but she enjoyed
the attentions which her fame brought her with simple pleasure, and
was delighted to meet bright, intelligent, distinguished people, who
added to her stores of observation and thought. She had the rare good
fortune, which an heir of millions might envy, of living all her life
in the society of the noblest men and women. The Emersons, the
Thoreaus, the Hawthornes, and Miss Elizabeth Peabody were the constant
companions of her childhood and youth. It was from them that her
standard of character was formed, and she could never enter any circle
higher than that in which she had breathed freely from a child. She
was quite capable of hero-worship, but her heroes were few.
With all her imagination and romance, Miss Alcott was a tremendous
destroyer of illusions; she remorselessly tore them away from herself,
persisting in holding a lens before every fault and folly of her own,
and she did the same for those she loved best. Only what was
intrinsically noble and true could stand the searching test of her
intellectual scrutiny and keen perception of the incongruous and
ridiculous.
This disposition was apparent in Louisa's relation to her father, whom
she did not always fully understand. Perhaps he had a perception of
this when he wrote--
"I press thee to my heart, as Duty's faithful child."
She had little sympathy with his speculative fancy, and saw plainly
the impracticability of his schemes, and did not hesitate to touch
with light and kindly satire his little peculiarities; yet in her
deepest heart she gave him not only affection, but deep reverence. She
felt the nobility and grandeur of his mind and heart. In "Little
Women" the portrait of the father is less vivid and less literal than
that of any other member of the family, and is scarcely recognizable;
but it was impossible to make the student and idealist a part of the
family life as she painted it,--full of fun, frolic, and adventure. In
the second part she has taken pains to make up for this seeming
neglect, and pays homage to the quiet man at the end of the house,
whose influence was so potent and so sweet over all within it.
Mrs. Alcott was a rich and noble nature, full of zeal and impulse,
daily struggling with a temper threatening to burst out into fire,
ready to fight like a lioness for her young, or to toil for them till
Nature broke down under the burden. She had a rich appreciation of
heroism and beauty in all noble living, a true love of literature, and
an overflowing sympathy with all suffering humanity, but was also
capable of righteous indignation and withering contempt. To this
mother, royal in her motherhood, Louisa was bound by the closest ties
of filial love and mutual understanding. She early believed herself to
be her mother's favorite child, knew she was close to her heart, her
every struggle watched, her every fault rebuked, every aspiration
encouraged, every effort after good recognized. I think Louisa felt no
pride in this preference. She knew that she was dear to her mother,
because her stormy, wayward heart was best understood by her; and
hence the mother, wiser for her child than for herself, watched her
unfolding life with anxious care. Throughout the childish journal this
relation is evident: the child's heart lies open to the mother, and
the mother can help her because she understands her, and holds sacred
every cry of her heart.
Such a loving relation to a mother--so rich, so full, so enduring--was
the greatest possible blessing to her life. And richly did Louisa
repay the care. From her earliest years she was her mother's
confidante, friend, and comforter. Her dream of success was not of
fame and glory, but of the time when she could bring this weary
pilgrim into "that chamber whose name is Peace," and there bid her sit
with folded hands, listening to the loving voices of her children, and
drinking in the fulness of life without care or anxiety.
And it all came true, like the conclusion of a fairy story; for good
fairies had been busy at work for many years preparing the way. Who
that saw that mother resting from her labors, proud in her children's
success, happy in her husband's contentment, and in the love that had
never faltered in the darkest days, can ever forget the peace of her
countenance, the loving joy of her heart?
The relation of Miss Alcott to her older sister was of entire trust
and confidence. Anna inherited the serene, unexacting temper of her
father, with much of the loving warmth of her mother. She loved to
hide behind her gifted sister, and to keep the ingle-side warm for her
to retreat to when she was cold and weary. Anna's fine intellectual
powers were shown more in the appreciation of others than in the
expression of herself; her dramatic skill and her lively fancy,
combined with her affection for Louisa, made her always ready to
second all the plans for entertainment or benevolence. She appears in
her true light in the sweet, lovable Meg of "Little Women;" and if she
never had the fame and pecuniary success of her sister, she had the
less rare, but equally satisfying, happiness of wifehood and
motherhood. And thus she repaid to Louisa what she had so generously
done for the family, by giving her new objects of affection, and
connecting her with a younger generation.
Louisa was always very fond of boys, and the difference of nature gave
her an insight into their trials and difficulties without giving her a
painful sense of her own hard struggles. In her nephews she found
objects for all her wise and tender care, which they repaid with
devoted affection. When boys became men, "they were less interesting
to her; she could not understand them."
Elizabeth was unlike the other sisters. Retiring in disposition, she
would gladly have ever lived in the privacy of home, her only desire
being for the music that she loved. The father's ideality was in her a
tender religious feeling; the mother's passionate impulse, a
self-abnegating affection. She was in the family circle what she is in
the book,--a strain of sweet, sad music we long and love to hear, and
yet which almost breaks the heart with its forecasting of separation.
She was very dear to both the father and mother, and the picture of
the father watching all night by the marble remains of his child is
very touching. He might well say,--
"Ah, me! life is not life deprived of thee."
Of the youngest of all,--bright, sparkling, capricious May,--quick in
temper, quick in repentance, affectionate and generous, but full of
her own plans, and quite inclined to have the world go on according
to her fancies,--I have spoken elsewhere. Less profound in her
intellectual and religious nature than either of her sisters, she was
like a nymph of Nature, full of friendly sportiveness, and disposed to
live out her own life, since it might be only a brief summer day. She
was Anna's special child, and Louisa was not always so patient with
her as the older sister; yet how well Louisa understood her generous
nature is shown by the beautiful sketch she has made of her in "Little
Women." She was called the lucky one of the family, and she reaped the
benefit of her generous sister's labors in her opportunities of
education.
Miss Alcott's literary work is so closely interwoven with her personal
life that it needs little separate mention. Literature was undoubtedly
her true pursuit, and she loved and honored it. That she had her
ambitious longings for higher forms of art than the pleasant stories
for children is evident from her journals, and she twice attempted to
paint the life of mature men and women struggling with great
difficulties. In "Moods" and "A Modern Mephistopheles" we have proof
of her interest in difficult subjects. I have spoken of them in
connection with her life; but while they evince great power, and if
standing alone would have stamped her as an author of original
observation and keen thought, they can hardly be considered as
thoroughly successful, and certainly have not won the sanction of the
public like "Hospital Sketches" and "Little Women." Could she ever
have commanded quiet leisure, with a tolerable degree of health, she
might have wrought her fancies into a finer fabric, and achieved the
success she aimed at.
Much as Miss Alcott loved literature, it was not an end in itself to
her, but a means. Her heart was so bound up in her family,--she felt
it so fully to be her sacred mission to provide for their wants,--that
she sacrificed to it all ambitious dreams, health, leisure,--everything
but her integrity of soul. But as "he that loseth his life shall find
it," she has undoubtedly achieved a really greater work than if she
had not had this constant stimulus to exertion. In her own line of
work she is unsurpassed. While she paints in broad, free strokes the
life of her own day, represented mostly by children and young people,
she has always a high moral purpose, which gives strength and
sweetness to the delineation; yet one never hears children complain of
her moralizing,--it is events that reveal the lesson she would
enforce. Her own deep nature shines through all the experiences of her
characters, and impresses upon the children's hearts a sense of
reality and truth. She charms them, wisely, to love the common virtues
of truth, unselfishness, kindness, industry, and honesty. Dr. Johnson
said children did not want to hear about themselves, but about giants
and fairies; but while Miss Alcott could weave fairy fancies for them,
they are quite as pleased with her real boys and girls in the plainest
of costumes.
An especial merit of these books for young boys and girls is their
purity of feeling. The family affection which was so predominant in
the author's own life, always appears as the holiest and sweetest
phase of human nature. She does not refuse to paint the innocent love
and the happy marriage which it is natural for every young heart to be
interested in, but it is in tender, modest colors. She does not make
it the master and tyrant of the soul, nor does she ever connect it
with sensual imagery; but it appears as one of "God's holy
ordinances,"--natural and beautiful,--and is not separated from the
thought of work and duty and self-sacrifice for others. No mother
fears that her books will brush the bloom of modesty from the faces of
her young men or maidens.
Even in the stories of her early period of work for money, which she
wisely renounced as trash, while there is much that is thoroughly
worthless as art, and little that has any value, Miss Alcott never
falls into grossness of thought or baseness of feeling. She is
sentimental, melodramatic, exaggerated, and unreal in her
descriptions, but the stories leave no taint of evil behind them. Two
of these stories, "The Baron's Gloves" and "A Whisper in the Dark,"
have been included in her published works, with her permission. Her
friends are disposed to regret this, as they do not add to her
reputation; but at least they serve to show the quality of work which
she condemned so severely, and to satisfy the curiosity of readers in
regard to it. It would be easy to point out defects in her style, and
in some of her books there is evidence of the enforced drudgery of
production, instead of the spontaneous flow of thought. The most
serious defect is in her style of expression, which certainly passes
the fine line between colloquial ease and slang; it is her own
natural, peculiar style, which appears in her journals and letters.
That it is attractive to children is certain, but it offends the taste
of those who love purity and elegance of speech. It does not appear in
Louisa's more ambitious novels; here she sometimes falls into the
opposite extreme of labored and stilted expression. But much of these
books is written in a pure and beautiful style, showing that she could
have united ease with elegance if she had not so constantly worked at
high speed and with little revision. She was a great admirer of
Dickens's writings; and although she has never imitated him, she was
perhaps strengthened in her habit of using dashing, expressive
language by so fascinating a model.
I have placed at the head of each chapter one of Miss Alcott's own
poems, usually written at the period of which the chapter treats, and
characteristic of her life at that time. Her first literary essay was
the "Little Robin." But although her fond mother saw the future of a
great poet in these simple verses, Louisa never claimed the title for
herself. Her thoughts ran often into rhyme, and she sent many birthday
and Christmas verses to her friends and especially to her father. They
are usually playful. She always wrote to express some feeling of the
hour, and I find no objective or descriptive poetry. But a few of her
sacred poems, for we may certainly call them so, are very tender and
beautiful, and deserve a permanent place among the poems of
feeling,--those few poems which a true heart writes for itself.
"Thoreau's Flute" was originally published in the "Atlantic Monthly."
It is the least personal of her poems. The lines to her father on his
eighty-sixth birthday, the verses dedicated to her mother, and "My
Prayer," the last poem that she wrote, breathe her deepest religious
feeling in sweet and fitting strains. They will speak to the hearts of
many in the hours of trial which are common to humanity. The long
playful poem called "The Lay of the Golden Goose" was sent home from
Europe as an answer to many questions from her admirers and demands
for new stories. It has never been published, and is an interesting
specimen of her playful rhyming.
While to Miss Alcott cannot be accorded a high rank as a poet,--which,
indeed, she never claimed for herself,--it would be hard to deny a
place in our most select anthology to "Thoreau's Flute" or
"Transfiguration," the "Lines to my Father on his Eighty-sixth
Birthday" and "My Prayer." I have therefore thought it well to
preserve her best poems in connection with her life, where they
properly belong; for they are all truly autobiographical, revealing
the inner meaning of her life.
The pecuniary success of Miss Alcott's books enabled her to carry out
her great purpose of providing for the comfort and happiness of her
family. After the publication of "Little Women," she not only received
a handsome sum for every new story, but there was a steady income from
the old ones. Her American publishers estimate that they "have sold of
her various works a million volumes, and that she realized from them
more than two hundred thousand dollars." While her own tastes were
very simple, her expenses were large, for she longed to gratify every
wish of those she loved, and she gave generously to every one in need.
She had a true sense of the value of money. Her early poverty did not
make her close in expending it, nor her later success lavish. She
never was enslaved by debt or corrupted by wealth. She always held
herself superior to her fortune, and made her means serve her highest
purposes.
Of Miss Alcott's own reading she says:--
"Never a student, but a great reader. R. W. E. gave me Goethe's
works at fifteen, and they have been my delight ever since. My
library consists of Goethe, Emerson, Shakespeare, Carlyle,
Margaret Fuller, and George Sand. George Eliot I don't care for,
nor any of the modern poets but Whittier; the old ones--Herbert,
Crashaw, Keats, Coleridge, Dante, and a few others--I like."
She gives this account of the beginning of her literary career:--
"This gem ['The Robin'] my proud mother preserved with care,
assuring me that if I kept on in this way I might be a second
Shakespeare in time. Fired with this modest ambition, I continued
to write poems upon dead butterflies, lost kittens, the baby's
eyes, and other simple subjects till the story-telling mania set
in; and after frightening my sisters out of their wits by awful
tales whispered in bed, I began to write down these histories of
giants, ogres, dauntless girls, and magic transformations till we
had a library of small paper-covered volumes illustrated by the
author. Later the poems grew gloomy and sentimental, and the
tales more fanciful and less tragic, lovely elves and spirits
taking the places of the former monsters."
Of her method of work she says:--
"I never had a study. Any pen and paper do, and an old atlas on
my knee is all I want. Carry a dozen plots in my head, and think
them over when in the mood. Sometimes keep one for years, and
suddenly find it all ready to write. Often lie awake and plan
whole chapters word for word, then merely scribble them down as
if copying.
"Used to sit fourteen hours a day at one time, eating little, and
unable to stir till a certain amount was done.
"Very few stories written in Concord; no inspiration in that dull
place. Go to Boston, hire a quiet room and shut myself up in it."
The following letter gives her advice to young writers:--
_To Mr. J. P. True._
CONCORD, October 24.
DEAR SIR,--I never copy or "polish," so I have no old manuscripts
to send you; and if I had it would be of little use, for one
person's method is no rule for another. Each must work in his own
way; and the only drill needed is to keep writing and profit by
criticism. Mind grammar, spelling, and punctuation, use short
words, and express as briefly as you can your meaning. Young
people use too many adjectives and try to "write fine." The
strongest, simplest words are best, and no _foreign_ ones if it
can be helped.
Write, and print if you can; if not, still write, and improve as
you go on. Read the best books, and they will improve your style.
See and hear good speakers and wise people, and learn of them.
Work for twenty years, and then you may some day find that you
have a style and place of your own, and can command good pay for
the same things no one would take when you were unknown.
I know little of poetry, as I never read modern attempts, but
advise any young person to keep to prose, as only once in a
century is there a true poet; and verses are so easy to do that
it is not much help to write them. I have so many letters like
your own that I can say no more, but wish you success, and give
you for a motto Michael Angelo's wise words: "Genius is infinite
patience."
Your friend,
L. M. ALCOTT.
P. S.--The lines you send are better than many I see; but boys of
nineteen cannot know much about hearts, and had better write of
things they understand. Sentiment is apt to become
sentimentality; and sense is always safer, as well as better
drill, for young fancies and feelings.
Read Ralph Waldo Emerson, and see what good prose is, and some of
the best poetry we have. I much prefer him to Longfellow.
"Years afterward," says Mr. True, "when I had achieved some slight
success, I once more wrote, thanking her for her advice; and the
following letter shows the kindliness of heart with which she extended
ready recognition and encouragement to lesser workers in her chosen
field:"--
CONCORD, Sept. 7, 1883.
MY DEAR MR. TRUE,--Thanks for the pretty book, which I read at
once and with pleasure; for I still enjoy boys' pranks as much as
ever.
I don't remember the advice I gave you, and should judge from
this your first story that you did not need much. Your boys are
real boys; and the girls can run,--which is a rare accomplishment
nowadays I find. They are not sentimental either; and that is a
good example to set both your brother writers and the lasses who
read the book.
I heartily wish you success in your chosen work, and shall always
be glad to know how fast and how far you climb on the steep road
that leads to fame and fortune.
Yours truly,
L. M. Alcott.
Roberts Brothers, Miss Alcott's publishers for nearly twenty years,
have collected all her stories in a uniform edition of twenty-five
volumes. They are grouped into different series according to size and
character, from her novels to "Lulu's Library" for very small
children, and may be enumerated as follows:--
_Novels_ (four volumes).--Work, Moods, A Modern Mephistopheles,
Hospital Sketches.
_Little Women Series_ (eight volumes).--Little Women, An
Old-Fashioned Girl, Little Men, Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom,
Under the Lilacs, Jack and Jill, Jo's Boys.
_Spinning-Wheel Stories Series_ (four volumes).--Silver Pitchers,
Proverb Stories, Spinning-Wheel Stories, A Garland for Girls.
_Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag_ (six volumes).--My Boys, Shawl-Straps,
Cupid and Chow-Chow, My Girls, Jimmy's Cruise in the Pinafore, An
Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving.
_Lulu's Library_ (three volumes).
Many of these stories were originally published in various
magazines,--the popular "St Nicholas," for which Miss Alcott wrote
some of her best things in her later years, the "Youth's Companion,"
and others. Her works have been republished in England; and through
her English publishers, Messrs. Sampson Low and Company, of London,
she has reaped the benefit of copyright there, and they have been
translated into many languages. Her name is familiar and dear to the
children of Europe, and they still read her books with the same
eagerness as the children of her own land.
This extract from a letter written by the translator of Miss Alcott's
books into Dutch will show how she is esteemed in Holland:--
"Miss Alcott was and is so much beloved here by her books, that
you could scarce find a girl that had not read one or more of
them. Last autumn I gave a translation of 'Lulu's Library' that
appeared in November, 1887; the year before, a collection of
tales and Christmas stories that appeared under the name of
'Gandsbloempje' ('Dandelion'). Yesterday a young niece of mine
was here, and said, 'Oh, Aunt, how I enjoyed those stories! but
the former of "Meh Meh" I still preferred.' A friend wrote: 'My
children are confined to the sickroom, but find comfort in
Alcott's "Under the Lilacs."' Her fame here was chiefly caused by
her 'Little Women' and 'Little Women Wedded,' which in Dutch
were called 'Under Moedervleugels' ('Under Mother's Wings') and
'Op Eigen Wieken' ('With Their Own Wings'). Her 'Work' was
translated as 'De Hand van den Ploey' ('The Hand on the
Plough')."
How enduring the fame of Louisa M. Alcott will be, time only can show;
but if to endear oneself to two generations of children, and to mould
their minds by wise counsel in attractive form entitle an author to
the lasting gratitude of her country, that praise and reward belong to
LOUISA MAY ALCOTT.
TERMINUS.
It is time to be old,
To take in sail:
The god of bounds,
Who sets to seas a shore,
Came to me in his fatal rounds,
And said, "No more!
No farther shoot
Thy broad ambitious branches, and thy root;
Fancy departs: no more invent,
Contract thy firmament
To compass of a tent.
There's not enough for this and that,
Make thy option which of two;
Economize the failing river,
Not the less revere the Giver;
Leave the many, and hold the few.
Timely wise, accept the terms;
Soften the fall with wary foot;
A little while
Still plan and smile.
And, fault of novel germs,
Mature the unfallen fruit."
* * * * *
As the bird trims her to the gale,
I trim myself to the storm of time;
I man the rudder, reef the sail,
Obey the voice at eve obeyed at prime:
Lowly faithful, banish fear,
Right onward drive unharmed;
The port, well worth the cruise, is near,
And every wave is charmed.
EMERSON.
LOUISA M. ALCOTT'S WRITINGS.
_Miss Alcott is really a benefactor of households._--H. H.
_Miss Alcott has a faculty of entering into the lives and feelings of
children that is conspicuously wanting in most writers who address
them; and to this cause, to the consciousness among her readers that
they are hearing about people like themselves, instead of abstract
qualities labelled with names, the popularity of her books is
due._--MRS. SARAH J. HALE.
_Dear Aunt Jo! You are embalmed in the thoughts and loves of thousands
of little men and women._--EXCHANGE.
=Little Women; or Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy.=
With illustrations. 16mo $1.50
=Hospital Sketches, and Camp and Fireside Stories.=
With illustrations. 16mo 1.50
=An Old-Fashioned Girl.=
With illustrations. 16mo 1.50
=Little Men:= Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys.
With illustrations. 16mo 1.50
=Jo's Boys and How they Turned Out.= A sequel to "Little Men."
With portrait of "Aunt Jo." 16mo 1.50
=Eight Cousins=; or, The Aunt-Hill.
With illustrations. 16mo 1.50
=Rose in Bloom.= A sequel to "Eight Cousins."
16mo 1.50
=Under the Lilacs.=
With illustrations. 16mo 1.50
=Jack and Jill.= A Village Story.
With illustrations. 16mo 1.50
=Work:= A Story of Experience.
With character illustrations by Sol Eytinge. 16mo 1.50
=Moods.= A Novel.
New edition, revised and enlarged. 16mo 1.50
=A Modern Mephistopheles, and A Whisper in the Dark.=
16mo 1.50
=Silver Pitchers, and Independence.= A Centennial Love Story.
16mo 1.25
=Proverb Stories.=
New edition, revised and enlarged. 16mo 1.25
=Spinning-Wheel Stories.=
With illustrations. 16mo 1.25
=A Garland for Girls, and Other Stories.=
With illustrations. 16mo 1.25
=My Boys, &c.= First volume of Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag.
16mo $1.00
=Shawl-Straps.= Second volume of Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag.
16mo 1.00
=Cupid and Chow-Chow, &c.= Third volume of Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag.
16mo 1.00
=My Girls, &c.= Fourth volume of Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag.
16mo 1.00
=Jimmy's Cruise in the Pinafore, &c.=
Fifth volume of Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag. 16mo 1.00
=An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, &c.=
Sixth volume of Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag. 16mo 1.00
=Little Women.= Illustrated. Embellished
with nearly 200 characteristic
illustrations from original
designs drawn expressly for this
edition of this noted American
Classic. One small quarto, bound
in cloth, with emblematic designs 2.50
=Little Women Series.= Comprising
Little Women; Little Men;
Eight Cousins; Under the Lilacs;
An Old-Fashioned Girl; Jo's
Boys; Rose in Bloom; Jack and
Jill. 8 large 16mo volumes in a
handsome box 12.00
Miss Alcott's novels in uniform binding
in sets. Moods; Work; Hospital
Sketches; A Modern Mephistopheles,
and A Whisper in the
Dark. 4 volumes. 16mo 6.00
=Lulu's Library.= Vols. I., II., III.
A collection of New Stories.
16mo 3.00
_These books are for sale at all bookstores, or will be mailed,
post-paid, on receipt of price, to any address._
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY,
BOSTON.
LOUISA M. ALCOTT,
HER LIFE, LETTERS, AND JOURNALS
EDITED BY EDNAH D. CHENEY.
With PORTRAITS and View of the ALCOTT HOME in Concord. One vol. 16mo.
Uniform with "Little Women." Price, $1.50.
Mrs. Cheney has allowed this popular author to tell the story of her
early struggles, her successes, and prosperity and life work, in her
own inimitable style, gracefully weaving the daily record of this
sweet and useful life into a garland of _immortelles_, in a manner at
once pleasing and within the comprehension of the thousands of readers
and admirers of Miss Alcott's books. It might truly be called the
biography of "Little Women."
A most fascinating as well as a deeply pathetic book. The
story,--the long, hard struggle for money to keep the household
in comfort, and the well-earned success coming, alas, too late to
save her health,--is delightfully told in her own words, from
letters and journals, so that we have the bright, the witty, and
the always charming personality of the children's author before
us from the first page to the last. We have to thank Mrs. Cheney
that she hid not from us the hard, grinding toil, nor spared us
the record of one discouragement in the life so interesting to
us; for in this narrative we have a valuable lesson for the young
writer of our day.--_The Epoch._
One who knew Miss Alcott well says: "Nobody can read of the
struggles of the Alcott family, and of the tender yet resolute
heroism with which Miss Alcott met and relieved them, without
being touched to tears by the pathos and reality of the picture.
Louisa Alcott was not a member of any church; but her belief in
God, her loyalty to conscience, her fidelity to duty, her rescue
of the Alcott family from its peculiar perils, place her among
the women saints of the century, and it will be hard to find any
one of her sex who has more faithfully responded to the duties of
the position in which God had placed her."--_Cincinnati
Commercial Gazette._
Louisa May Alcott is without a rival as a writer for the young.
The millions who have read her stories--and been made better by
the reading--will want this book that they may get near the inner
life, the fruitful source of their entertainment and profit. They
will see that purity, simplicity, love, earnestness, and patience
were so interwoven with her genius that her stories were the
natural outgrowth of her beautiful character. The book needs no
commendation from us. Every reader of her stories will be glad to
know that they may now become intimately acquainted with that
beautiful life which is here brought out of its long cherished
seclusion.--_Saturday Evening Herald._
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY,
BOSTON.
[Illustration: "Sing, Tessa, Sing!" cried Tommo, twanging away with
all his might.--PAGE 47.]
AUNT JO'S SCRAP-BAG: Containing "My Boys," "Shawl-Straps," "Cupid and
Chow-Chow," "My Girls," "Jimmy's Cruise in the Pinafore," "An
Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving." 6 vols. Price of each, $1.00.
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY,
BOSTON.
LOUISA M. ALCOTT'S STORY-BOOKS.
[Illustration: A CHRISTMAS DREAM.]
LULU'S LIBRARY.
A COLLECTION OF STORIES BY "AUNT JO"
With Illustrations by JESSIE MCDERMOTT.
3 vols. 16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00 per volume.
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY,
BOSTON.
NOVELS AND STORIES
BY
LOUISA M. ALCOTT.
WORK. A Story of Experience. With Illustrations by SOL EYTINGE.
This story relates, in many of its most important features and
incidents, to actual experiences of its author; and in "Christie"
we find the views and ideas of Miss Alcott herself expressed in
such a way as to make them most interesting and valuable.
MOODS. A Novel.
Although this story was originally written at a time when its
author's powers and years were far from fully matured, it was in
its first form indicative of great power. It was revised and
partly rewritten after she had attained a full maturity, and
after actual experience with life had broadened and rounded out
her mental vision, so that it now stands as the first-born and
dearest to her heart of her novels.
A MODERN MEPHISTOPHELES. A Story.
This story was written for the "No Name Series," in which it
originally appeared, and consequently was intended to be
disguised
It is a surprise that Miss Alcott could have written this volume;
not that it is inferior, but that it varies from her usual tone
and theme so much. Yet her plot is ingenious, and there is
dramatic design well worked out. As we read, knowing now who the
author is (the story was first published anonymously), we
recognize the grace of her style and the art of her workmanship.
Its tone and, above all, its lofty moral purpose are hers. Plots
differ, appearances are changed; but some of the deep traits of
the true nature of Miss Alcott are in the book. Being dead she
yet liveth.--_Public Opinion_.
HOSPITAL SKETCHES, and Camp and Fireside Stories. With Illustrations.
These stories and sketches were written at the time of the Civil
War, in which the author took part as a nurse in one of the
hospitals, and show some of the many minor side scenes that help
to make up that great conflict.
Four volumes. 16mo. Cloth. $1.50 per volume.
_Sold everywhere. Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of price by the
publishers,_
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY,
BOSTON.
[Illustration: "'I'm not hurt, all right in a minute,' he said,
sitting up, a little pale and dizzy, as the boys gathered round him,
full of admiration and alarm."--PAGE 2]
LITTLE MEN; OR, LIFE AT PLUMFIELD WITH JO'S BOYS. Price, $1.50.
LITTLE BROWN, AND COMPANY,
BOSTON.
[Illustration: WALTON RICKETSON, SCULP.]
JO'S BOYS, AND HOW THEY TURNED OUT. A sequel to "Little Men." With a
new portrait of "Aunt Jo." Price, $1.50.
Little, Brown, and Company,
BOSTON.
POPULAR STORY BOOKS.
SUSAN COOLIDGE has always possessed the affection of her young
readers, for it seems as if she had the happy instinct of
planning stories that each girl would like to act out in
reality.--_The Critic._
Not even Miss Alcott apprehends child nature with finer sympathy,
or pictures its nobler traits with more skill.--_Boston Daily
Advertiser._
=THE NEW YEAR'S BARGAIN.= A Christmas Story for Children. With
Illustrations by ADDIE LEDYARD. 16mo. $1.25.
=WHAT KATY DID.= A Story. With Illustrations by ADDIE LEDYARD. 16mo.
$1.25.
=WHAT KATY DID AT SCHOOL.= Being more about "What Katy Did." With
Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.
=MISCHIEF'S THANKSGIVING,= and other Stories. With Illustrations by
ADDIE LEDYARD. 16mo. $1.25.
=NINE LITTLE GOSLINGS.= With Illustrations by J. A. MITCHELL. 16mo.
$1.25.
=EYEBRIGHT.= A Story. With Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.
=CROSS PATCH.= With Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.
=A ROUND DOZEN.= With Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.
=A LITTLE COUNTRY GIRL.= With Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.
=WHAT KATY DID NEXT.= With Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.
=CLOVER.= A Sequel to the Katy Books. With Illustrations by JESSIE
MCDERMOTT. 16mo. $1.25.
=JUST SIXTEEN.= With Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.
=IN THE HIGH VALLEY.= With Illustrations, 16mo. $1.25.
=A GUERNSEY LILY=; or, How the Feud was Healed. A Story of the Channel
Islands. Profusely Illustrated. 16mo. $1.25.
=THE BARBERRY BUSH,= and Seven Other Stories about Girls for Girls. With
Illustrations by JESSIE MCDERMOTT. 16mo. $1.25.
=NOT QUITE EIGHTEEN.= A volume of Stories. With Illustrations by JESSIE
MCDERMOTT. 16mo. $1.25.
_Sold by all booksellers. Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of price, by
the publishers._