If we are to
judge the value of Alcott's thought by the constant cheerfulness and
contentment of his daily life, his ideas must have been of an excellent
quality. His flowing white hair, and the calmness and purity of his
aspect, gave him quite an apostolic look; and once while visiting at the
house of a friend, a certain small boy--the same for whom John Brown
afterwards wrote his autobiography of a boy--asked his mother if that
man was one of Christ's disciples. Such was the father of "Little
Women."
The Alcotts received their friends weather permitting on Monday
evenings, and some favored youths of Mr. Sanborn's school would go there
to play whist, make poker-sketches, and talk with the ladies; while Mrs.
Alcott, who had played with the famous automaton in her younger days,
would have a quiet game of chess with some older person in a corner.
Louisa usually sat by the fire-place, knitting rapidly with an open book
in her lap, and if required to make up a table would come forward with a
quiet look of resignation and some such remark as "You know I am not a
Sarah Battles." Then after a while her love of fun would break forth,
and her bright flashes of wit would play about the heads of all who were
in the room. Just after ten Mr. Alcott would come in with a dish of
handsome apples and his wife produce some ginger cakes; a lively chat
for fifteen or twenty minutes would follow, and then the guests would
walk home.
Pages:
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79