The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-11-29
By Celia
Myrover
Robinson.
A BirthdayTri.
butte to Louisa
M. A1cott.

in life. What is truthful, appeals tc
their fresh honesty. And for this rea-
son, If not no other, Miss Alcott's
story will endure as long as Little
Women love truth and the wholesome
things of life.
Who has not stolen away, with Lit
tie Women, to be alone with girl
dreams, and to laugh over the fun and
weep over the trials of the March
family
Hoyden Jo-with her wild ways and
her busy brain-was the fayorite. and
girls loved to think that Miss Alcott
drew JOS character with such d free
hand, because it was her own inner
life. as we'll as its outward seeming,
that she depicted And then there was
JOS romance with Laurie. How in
terested everyone was in that, to be
surei And how disappointed we were
when Miss AIcott ruthIessIy married
10 and Mr.. Baer.
That Is really the only criticism
one could possibly offer-or at any
rate, 1T seemed so in those dear days,
when one dwelt in a world made
brighter and happier by Miss Alcott.
And she let Amy marry Laurie, after
all. That helped to make amends.
Perhaps that was another of Miss
Alcott'S secrets. She knew that girls
must have romance, and SO with the
simple, every day affairs, there ran a
thread of love-the kind of love story
that is Ike a golden chain brighten-.
ing the fabric of some simple gown
and girls were all the better for her
sweet romances, which had so much
not really so very romantic. after all.
Just a bit of real girl life.
But why try to tell of what Louis
Alcott has written for girls? Who
does not know? Little Woman is far
better known in America than Ham
LAT Do iSo
book, excepting only The Bible. It is
the most widely read girls book ever
written. 1t has been translated into
every modern foreign tongue, and
would have made the author famous.
had she written but this one book
alone. In deed, her fame viii rest on
Little Women, when perhaps her Lit
tie Men. and ld-Fashioned Girl, and
Under The Lilacs, and Eight sCous-
ms, and Jack and Jill, and many other
delightful stories from her pen, have
been forgotten.
Perhaps Miss Alcotts personality
has had much to do with keeping alive
the interest in her story of girl life.
The fact that her struggle was so
hard, and that in the story of Little
Women she has woven the daily cpl
sodes of her own family, has added
to the interest.
To me, there is no book that Miss
Alcott ever wrote, quite so absorbing
by Edna Cheney. An interesting fact
brought out in Miss Cheney's book, is
the following:
In September, 1867. Roberts Broth
ers asked her to write a girls book
for them, and in May. 1868, they re-
peated the request through her father,
Amos Bronson Alcott, the famous Bos-
ton educator-whose fame came so
long after his death
Miss Alcott's fancy had always been
for depicting the life of boys rather
than girls but she fortunately. took
the suggestion Of the publisher.
In Miss Alcotts own diary, much
Of which is Incorporated in Miss Che
ney's book, Life and Letters of Louisa
M. Alcott the author of Little Wo-
men SAYS Of her famous work:
May, 1868: Father saw Mr.. Niles
about a fairy book. Mr.. N. wants a
girls story, and 1 began Little Wo-
men, Marmee Anna and May all ap-
prove my plan. So plod away. though
don't enjoy this sort of thing. but
our plays and experiences may prove
interesting, though doubt it,
June: Sent twelve chapters of Lit
tie Women to Mr.. n. He thought it
dull; so do I. But work away and
mean to try the experiment.; for live
ly. simple books are very much need
ed for girls, and perhaps 1 can supply
the need"
August. Proof of book came. 1t
reads better than / expected Not a
bit sensational but simple and true.
for we really lived most of it; and if
IL succeeds that will be the reason for
It, Mr.. N likes it better now, and
says some girls who have read the
say It is splendid
The girls were better critics than
the Mr.. Niles, of Roberts and Com
pany. and the book that he thought.
dull made both the author and the
publisher rich.
Her American publishers estimate
that they have sold Of her various
works q million volumes. and that she
realized more than two hundred dol
lars from the sales.
But it is not in the pecuniary value
of the book, that she reaped her great
est harvest. She was the idol of girls,
and her death was mourned all over
the English speaking world, girls who
had learned to love her through Little
Women.
Mr.. and Mrs. N. Gordon OF Michigan,
have arrived for the winter and are
again pleasantly located IN the Flor
ida winter home at 1910 East Cervan-
ties street Their numerous friends
are gLz5 GO yreet them again