Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1920-11-19

S&,stS$SsS a / experience OF q
IN year at Fruitlands,
- SsSS.s1 M111A where nm attempt
~ HDlfiwas made ito es-
tablish an ideal community. Miss Alcott
was obliged TO be wage Garner to
help out the family income, and so
taught school, served as q governess
and mt times worked as a lseamstress.
Wearying of this, she wrote fur the
papers stories of a sensational nature,
which were remuneratfve financially
but unsatisfactory 10 her as d literary
pursuit, and she abandoned this style
of writing. tl .f,,.,uatt f,Afaal
In a Washington hospital she served
as a nurse for a time. but the work
WINS 80 hard that she faiIed In health.
and when she recovered she had TO find
new fields of work, then she Travelled
as attendant to an invalid, and with
her visited Europe.
After several attempts at literature
Miss Alcott wrote Little Women,'
ing a sale Of $1,000 copies In three
years. She wrote from the heart, and
wove into the story incidents from the
lives of herself and her three sisters
at Concord. She afterward wrote s.An
Old Fashioned GIRL" "Little Men,"
"Aunt JOS Scrap Dag sSDhe Eight
Cousins" and crosse In Bloom,' besides
other stories and sketches. amid lri4a
Miss Alcott had ambition and ability
for a high grade of literary works she
made her success rs a writer of chill
dren's stories.. While her receipts from
some later work were large for those
times, she declared that she was more
proud Of the first $50 she received than
of the larger amounts later. is,'''l9 tta"
One generation after another of
young readers fnds pleasure sn Miss All
colts CHEEKY. healthful stories, and
their vitality IL Indicated by their ap-
pearnnce ON the movie screen. y #'fifRttl
TN their old-fashioned New England
home the little women lived with
= Mrs. March, their brisk and CHEEKY
mother, who always had "can-I-heip
you" look about her. and whom her
four girls lovingly called "Marmee."'
Pretty Meg, the oldest, was sixteen,
and already showed domestic tastes
and talents, though she detested the
drudgery of household work; and, a
little vain of her white hands, longed
at heart to be a fine lady 10, fifteen,
was tall, thin and coltish. and glor.ed
in an unconcealed scorn Of polite con-
ventions. Beth, thirteen, was low
able little thing, shy, fond of her dolls
and devoted to music, which she tried
hopefully to produce from the old,
jingling tinpan of piano. Amy,
twelve. considered herself the flower
! of the family. An adorable blonde,
she admitted that the trial of her life
was, her nose. For, when she. was a
baby, 10 had accidentally dropped her
into the coal-hod and permanently
fiattened that feature and though poor
Any dept with a patent Sclotnespin
pinching it. she couldn't attain the
! Grecian effect She so much desired.
Father March was an army chap
lain In the. Ciyl war, and In his alb,
seAce ID declared herselfs to kbe the
man OF the family. = TO add to their
slender income, she went every day to
read to Aunt March, peppery old
h5iy; and, MEG, too. earned small
salary as-Sdai1y nursery governess to
neighbours children.
In the big house next door to the
Marches lived rich old gentleman,
Mr.. laurence, and his grandson, q
jolly chummy boy called Laurie,
/ Though awe-inspiring at first Mr.,
Laurence proved both kindly and gen.
erous, ana even timid Beth mustered
up courage to go over to the palace
Beautiful'' at twilight and play softly
on the grand piano there. But, as she
confessed TO her mother. when she BE.
gan she was, so. frightened her feet
chatteredl on the floor a tt''Ai "a
The night Laurie took the two older
gifis to the theater, tAtai55.;' though moi
Invited, insisted on going too, Je
i GROSSLY declared she wouldn't 30 u
Amy did,, and furiously scolding hel
little sister, she slammed the door and
went off, as Amy called out: you'll
be sorry for this, 10 Mhrehf See \
/ you amt r. The child made good hel
threat, by burning up, the manuscrip
I Of a precious book which 10 had writ
ten and on which she had spent tire,
/ years of hard work. There was ter
rible fsacas, and. though at her moth
er's bidding Amy made contrite apol
ogy, 10 refused to be pacified. It wal
only when poor little Amy was nearls
drowned by falling through the icy
I that conscience-strieken 10. forgave he
sister, and learned much-needed les
,son Of selfehntrd.
L Meg, too, learned salutary lesson
/ when, .shet went 10 visit some fash
+ lonabi iekAsyand had her first tast