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.
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