The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-11-29
AUTHOR OF LITTLE woNIEzN's
 BORN 80 YEARS AGO TO-DAY

Louisa May Alcott, author of Lit tie Women the classic novel for girls
 which has lately been dranatized and is now being presented on the stage
 of the Playhouse in New York. was born eighty years ago to-day, Nov 29, 1S32. It is coincidence that to- day is also the anniversary of the birth of her distinguished father, Amos Bronson Alcott Nov. 29, 1799.
 Millions of ardent admirers of Miss Aicott throughout the English-speak- ] ing world will pay tribute to the memory of the gifted author to-day, in perusing the pages of her stories. Written a half a century ago, Little Women" still ranks among the best 1 sellers of works of it's kind, and the stage producution has led to a great revival of interest. Girls of six and grandmothers, and men as well as Little Women has been staged, and I the production promises to be one of l the greatest successes of the season.
 Blase managers. convinced that the public taste demands only nudity,
 scandal and vulgarity, predicted i'm
 mediate failure for Little women," but happily they have been forced to a new estimate of humanity.
 Amos Bronson A1cott, the father of the novelist, was born in Wolcott, Conn, the son of farmer His
 first employment was as a clerk in a country store. and later he was pedd1er in the South. In 1923 he opened a school for small children in his native town. Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pa. When she was four her father removed to Concord, Mass, and thereafter devot- ed himself to philosophical study and to writing and featuring on reform topics. He was leader among the transcendentalists who had their headquarters in Concord, and an ar dent abolitionists. In this atmos- phere of philosophy and letters Miss ATcott grew up, becoming her fathers assistant and later a school teacher.
 The opening SC scene of the dramatic the living room of the old house where the four March girls spent their youth. As every admirer of Miss AL colt knows, this was the Concord house of the Alcotts. It has lately been made into a permanent Alcott museum, where reverent pilgrims may Amy and Beth. and dozens of articles reminiscent of the gifted father and daughter. In the stage production nurnerou pieces of jewelry. orna- by the original Little Women are worn by the actresses, having been loaned for that purpose by the pres ent mem bers of the A1cott family. Miss A1cott published her first
 book, Flower Fables. when she was seventeen. During the civil war she
 esa as and ho1p1a par boor n Waf Sketches,'' was based on this exper- fence. The toll and hardships of
 her life as nurse wrecked her
 health, and after the war she went to Europe to rest. She wrote Little
 Women while resting and it was
 published upon her return to Ameri-
 ca in 1867. Sixty thousand copies
 were sold the first year. and since
 then millions of copies have been
 sold. The book is almost as popular
 in England as on this side of the At
 1antic.
 Miss Jessie Benstelle, an actress
 manager who has starred in stock
 companies in Detroit, Buffalo and
 other cities, orieinated the idea of
 putting Little Women on the stage.
 For eight years she worked to bring
 her dream to realization. The dra-
 natic version, which is exceptionally
 well done, is the work of Miss Marian
 de Forest, of the staff of the Buffalo
 Express.