“‘She’s not a bit of a fashion-plate, but a splendid woman, just
natural and hearty and sweet.’ Even her clothes have a superior air
about them. ‘Her jersey fits splendidly! There she is now! Girls,
she’s running! Do come and see!’
“All ran in time to see a tall young lady come up the wide path at a
good pace, looking as fresh and blithe as the Goddess of Health.”
This healthy, wise teacher shows the girls the folly of many of
their conventional notions, and encourages them in their efforts
for broader lives, “and long after they were scattered apart, they
remembered the lessons which helped them to be what their good friend
hoped--healthful, happy, and useful women.”
The high spiritual religion of her father, the warm, human affections
of her mother, full of natural joy in life, and knowing that mirth and
fun helped the world on, as well as seriousness and labor, blended in
Miss Alcott’s work in such delightful humor, that tears and smiles are
alike ready at her call; and whatever she writes you find, as Burns
says,--
“Perhaps it may turn out a song,
Perhaps turn out a sermon.”
How tenderly the children feel for the little dog who has lost his
beautiful tail, as if they had known what it was to be doggies
themselves! How she enjoys Jacko’s fun, and enters into the life of the
circus boy; and even sympathizes with the poor rough bear, who tried
to live in freedom in the woods, but came back to his prison to die!
She has the blessed power of imagination, by which she can “put herself
into another’s place,” and feel his experiences as if they were her own.
It seems a pleasant thing to write all these beautiful stories for
children, and perhaps some of you will resolve to follow her example
in writing. But, remember, nothing can be done without hard work, and
Miss Alcott wrote many an hour when she felt sick and weary, and would
gladly have lain down in some quiet place to rest. Her fingers became
cramped with holding a pen so much, and her head was dizzy and weary
with thinking out her stories, and correcting proofs, beside having
many a care. Then the dear old mother died; and not many years after
the father was stricken with paralysis, and for almost six years the
two sisters cared for him when he was feeble as a little child.
So she became tired out, and she went to a good friendly home to rest.
A whole year she was there, and we fondly hoped she was regaining the
strength she had used to help and bless so many people. But
“The silver cord was loosed, and the golden bowl was broken.”
A cold brought on a severe attack in head and throat, and she lay
unconscious and helpless. Her father’s serene life had closed two days
before, and as the dear friends of the family gathered to pay their
tribute of affection and respect to him, they heard the thrilling
words, “Louisa Alcott is dead!”
Those words reached over many lands, and everywhere children mourned as
for a dear friend gone from them. She was ready and willing to go; but
it was hard for them to be willing to spare her, to know that no new
words would come from her pen, no more lessons of help and strength for
their lives.
But let us be thankful that her beautiful, generous heart had poured
itself out so lavishly in words of wisdom and beauty, that we can never
feel that she is gone from us; we can turn again and again to the
stories in which she has told us her life, and thank God that Louisa
Alcott lived.
She was taken to the beautiful town where her girlhood was passed, and
“her boys” went as her guard of honor to the tomb.
In that Sleepy Hollow, where Emerson and Hawthorne, too, were placed,
her worn-out frame was laid to rest. She asked to be laid across the
feet of father, mother, and sister, “to take care of them as she had
done all her life.”
My little friends, you may not one of you have the great talents which
made Miss Alcott _famous_, but every one of you can try to have her
spirit of love and duty, can follow in the paths she has pointed out,
and, like her, receive the Father’s blessing on “Duty’s faithful child.”
[Illustration: SLEEPY HOLLOW CEMETERY. CONCORD, MASS.]