Austin [Footnote: Mrs. Jane G. Austin, a
bright little story-writer of those days and very much like her English
namesake.] and myself to continue the way alone. Unluckily there was no
one now to care for the bottle of cold tea, and rolling about in the
stern of the boat the cork came out and the tea was spilled. This was a
severe loss to Miss Alcott who was not yet strong enough for an all-day
picnic, and when I explained it to her she said, "Don't talk to me. I
know you college-boys. That cork never came out by accident. You drank
the tea yourself, and now in what way I am going to punish you for it I
cannot tell." With such biting humor she partly relieved and partly
concealed her just vexation.
Characteristic writers are commonly the last to be appreciated, and Miss
Alcott's first novel did not meet with an encouraging reception from the
public. Some tender critics even complained that the story was
subversive of conservative morality. "I cannot help that," Louisa
remarked in her emphatic manner, "I did not make morality or human
nature, and am not responsible for either: but people who are given to
moods act as I have described; sometimes they like one person and
sometimes another." Perhaps she was thinking not so much of moody
natures as of those contradictory characters who have inherited the
traits of very dissimilar ancestors. She wrote another novel which she
herself liked much better and had great hopes of, which was lost in some
miraculous way by her publisher Mr.
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