A little kingdom I possess
Where thoughts and feelings dwell,
And very hard I find the task
Of gov-ern-ing it well.
For passion tempts and troubles me,
A wayward will misleads,
And sel-fish-ness its shadow casts
On all my words and deeds.
I do not ask for any crown
But that which all may win,
Nor seek to conquer any world
Except the one within.
The Al-cott family were very poor. Louisa made up her mind to do
something to make money when she got big. She did not like being so
very poor.
[Illustration]
One day she was sitting on a cart-wheel thinking. She was thinking how
poor her father was. There was a crow up in the air over her head. The
crow was cawing. There was nobody to tell her thoughts to but the crow.
She shook her fist at the big bird, and said,—
“I will do something by and by. Don’t care what. I’ll teach, sew, act,
write, do anything to help the family. And I’ll be rich and famous
before I die. See if I don’t.”
The crow did not make any answer. But Louisa kept thinking about the
work she was going to do. The other children got work to do that made
money. But Louisa was left at home to do housework. She had to do the
washing. She made a little song about it. Here are some of the verses
of this song:—
[Illustration]