Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-01-27
Miss Alcott,

Close Dy Phlladelpnla, ana now part
OF that great city, is Germantown, a quiet
and lovely village then, which had been
settled many years before by Germans,
for whom it was named, and by Quakers,
such as came to Philadelphia with Viii
liam Penn. Here louisa May Alcott was
born, and she spent the two first years Of
her life in Germantown and Philadelphia.
Then, her father and mother went back to
Boston, where Mr.. Alcott taught cele-
brated school in fine large building
called the Temple, close by Boston Com
mon, and about this school an interesting
book has been written, which, perhaps,
you will some day read. The little
Louisa did not go at first because she was
not old enough, but her father and mother
taught her at home the same beautiful
things which the older children learned
in the Temple school.
By and by people began to complain
that Mr.. Alcott was too gentle with his
scholars, that he read to them from the
New Testament too much, and talked
with them about Jesus, when he ought to
have been making them say their multi
plication table. So his school became
unpopular, and all the more SO because
he would not refuse to teach poor col
ored boy who wanted to be his pupil.
The fathers and mothers Of the white
children were not willing to have a col!
ored child in the same school with their
darlings. SO they took away their chill
= dren, one after another, until, when Louisa
; Alcott was between six and seven years
old, her father was left with only five pu-
. pills, Louisa and her sisters, CsJo' Beth
) and 'sMeg') one white boy and the colored
boy whom he would not send away. Mr.
Alcott had depended for his support OF
;, the money which his pupils paid him
y and now he became poor, and gave up hi
: school.
J There was friend Of Mr. Alcott's thel
living in Concord, not far from Boston
man of great wisdom and goodness,wh'
had been very sad to see the noble Con
necticut schoolmaster SO shabbily treatet
in Boston--and he invited his friend t
come and live in Concord. SO Louisi
e went to that old country town with he
% father and mother when she was eigh
a. years old, and lived with them in co
tage, where her father worked in til
y garden, or cut wood in the forest, Will
as her mother kept the house and did tn
g work of the cottage, aided by her thre
80 little girls.
! By and by, when Louisa was ten yea
~ old, they went to another country tow
nc not far off, named Harvard, where SON
p friends Of Mr. Alcott had bought farm
~ AS on which they were all to live togethe
II in religious community, working wit
SO their hands, and not eating the flesh
slaughtered animals, but living on veg
&c table food, for this practice, they though
~ ~ made people more yirtuous. Miss Alec
~ has written an amusing story about thi
es which she calls 'sTranscendental Wi
ne Oats When Louisa was twelve yea
e old, and had third sister CsAmy'), Il
"a. family returned to Concord, and f
'Se three years occupied the house in whit
Mr.. Hawthorne, who wrote the fine r
Ike mances, afterward lived. There Mr. A
DIS colt planted fair garden, and built
ed, summer-house near brook for his CHI
ew dren, where they spent many happy hou
sc, and where, as have heard Miss Alec
&c. first began to compose stories to anu
he her sisters and other children Of the neig
borhood.
ure When she was almost sixteen, the fa1
vas ily returned to Boston, and there NJ
mt Alcott began to teach boys and girls thu
ar lessons. She had not been at scht
ept much herself, but she had been instruct
ex- by her father and mother. She had Sc
md so much that was generous and good dc
we. bv them that she had learned, it is
the better to have kind heart and to do ,
of selfish acts than to have riches
lad. learning or fine clothes. So, moth
ght were glad to send her their children to
taught, and she earned money in this "
ex- for her own support.
ent But she did not like to teach SO W
lift as her father did, and thought that P
led haps she could write stories and be p
for them, and earn more money in t
e. way. So she began to write stories.
title first nobody would pay her any MOI
cent for them, but she kept patiently at wo
lied making better and better what she wrt
her, until in few years she could earn g,
ock sum by her pen. Then the great ci
dge war came on, and Miss Alcott, like
bore rest of the people, wished to do someth
for her country. Soshe wenHto Washi
/ ton as nurse, and for sometime she t
care of the poor soldiers who came
It it. the hospital wounded or sick, and
lid has written little book about IL
the soldiers which YOU NAV have read