The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-06-09
BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES
FOR GIRLS.
XVIL-LoUIsA MAY ALCoTT.
QS32-1SSS)
BY CHARLOTTE BREWSTER JOfs
DAM


] Those who would thoroughly under
stand the childhood of Louisa NJ. AL
colt have but to read Little Women, -
Little Men, JOS Boys and the
/ other juvenile books wherein the joys,
work, romps end sorrows of the Aicott
family are faithfully portrayed. AS 10,
the lovable tomboy, strong in will,
awkward in body, impulsive in
thought, MOODY, high-spirited and
noble-hearted, she has charmed,
I amused and interested the children of
two generations, and as long as frank
and natural childhood, with its strug-
giles and victories, is rightly estimated
so long will succeeding generations
continue TO enjoy her original books,
From her hother, Abba May, Louisa
May AleOtt inherited her keen sense of
/ humOr, her passionate devotion to
her family and her brave tendency to
make the best ef things; from her
I father she inherited her uncommon
mind her pure mindedness and love of
philanthropy. a. Bronson AlcOtt the
devoted friend of Emerson, who called
/ him the American Plato" was q man
of singular uprightness of character.
( gentlenesS and platOnic wisdom, who
apparently understood the tenets of
! transceudentalism far better than the
multiplication table. So serenity I'M
practical was this charming man that
I during the greater part of his life he
was a distinct financial drag rather
! than support TO his family. Not that
he did not struggle continuously TO do
/ his part, but he was overgenerous,
/ dreamy, easily imposed upon and
utterly lacking in the sense of proper
ton. Wherever you find his type in a
/ family you invariably find its anti
thesis, trained in necessity's mill TO
/ oppose and cOunterbalance the I'M
practical. Mrs. Alcott and Louisa rep
resented this contrary tendency, the
mother bTaYely supporting her hus-
/ bands theories even when not entirely
in sympathy with them, Louisa mildly
satirizing her fathers views In her
/ story, '"Transcendental Wild oats and
/ giving her youth, her strength and her
/ life to meet the harvest of debts which
these impractical theories reaped.
During the financial panics which as
sailed this happy family Emerson was
the stanCh financial friend, leaving ms
/ gifts unostentatiously under candle
stick. in the leaves of a book or on a
table. It always hurt LOuisa's PRIDE
/ that the family was obliged to take
this kindly proffered help, and had 1t
not BEEN that she knew how much
! Emerson honOred her good father she
could hardly have brought herself to
/ accept it. 1t took her nearly twenty
five years to pay off all the FAMILY
| debts. but she finally succeeded in
/ canceIing every one, even those that
were outlawed. Emerson was her idol,
and during what she terms her sentl-
mental age she wrote him long letters
after the manner of the Bettlna-
] Goethe correspondence, but could
/ never screw uD her courage to send
/ them and finally destroyed them all.
The vegetarian diet upon which the
/ family subSisted was at least an
! economical one. and although the
family often wearied of the plain
! boiled rice and graham bread with
/ out milk or butter, Louisa and her
! older sister thrived on the plain fare;
neither of the younger sisters, m
mortalized in Little Women" as Beth
and Amy. gained strength from the
/ mOnOtonOus diet Had Louisa not
/ been so phenOmenaly strong she
/ never could have accomplished what
! she did, even with the best Intentions
/ in the world.
Taught bv their kind father, encour-
! aged and helped by their warm-hearted
mother. the Alcott children led per-
/ fectly Joyous existence at Concord, IN
/ mindful of the impending financial
/ storm With plenty Of homework,
dolls dressmaking and play-acting in
/ the barn, they lived in the enchanted
/ land of make-believe or romped with
/ the little EmeFsOns. Channings and
/ Hawthornes. pilgrims jOurneyed over
] the hill. writes Louisa, the ringleader'
\ with scrip and staff and cOclxleshells
/ in their hats fairies held their pretty
/ revels among the whispering birches,
and strawberry parties in the rustic
! arbor were honOred by poets and phil
/ osophers, who fed US on their wit and
wisdof while the little maids served
! more mortal food"
! In a poem written when IL years old
/ to her mother, Louisa AlcOtt forecasts
/ the impetus which kept her working so
I many years:
Il hope that soon, dear mother,
You and / may be
In the quiet room my fancy
Has 50 often made. for thee.
while I sit close beside you.
Content at last TO see
That you can rest, dear mother,
! And 1 can cherish thee
/ From the time when she was Is, she
/ launched forth on an Independent ca
reer. full of trials and priVatiOns.
/ Teaching school. sewing, nursing inva-
lids and going out TO service were q few
/ Of the many occupations at which she
! tried her hand. Several times she cam0
/ very near going on the stage: arrange
ments were made and the parts assign
/ ed, but some unforeseen accident always
/ blocked the fulfllment Of her cherished
ambitions In the light of her suisse
/ quent career as an author, pOsterity
/ must repoice that her histrionic hopes
were nipped in the bud.
| At the age of % her first little book
/ Flower Fables, written when she was
/ only Is. to amuse Emerson's daughter,
/ found its way into print. 1t brought
/ but S32 into the Alcott sinking fund, .
but was regarded as a sign of promise.
She sent it to the well beloved mother
with this characteristic note: Dear
Mother-IntO your Christmas stocking
I have put my 'first-boFn,' knowing
that you Will accept it with all it's
faults (for grandmOthers are always
kind and look upon it merely as an
earnest of what l may yet do. In the
following February she received s. for
her first story, and for some years after
wrote these exciting little "pOt-bOilers, -
supplementing her routine sewing with
these really inferior tales. 1t was not
until two years afterward that she
could write in her journal: The in
side OF my head can at least cover the
outside"
in a letter to her father she says: 81
can't do much with my hands, so I
Will make a battering ram of my head
ard make a way through this rough
and-tumble world" That she was able
to use all parts of her body is well
proved by her records of a days work,
consisting of the family homework in
the morning, followed by twenty-mile
walk; in the afternoon more housework
and two $50 stories written for the
Youths Companion, and a ball in the
evening To these duties she added that
of nurse Of the family. She gave up
her work in Boston to care for the in
La sirfo1. rt.l,n dind IN hnr orr,.,