Louisa Alcott - The Complete Works of Louisa May Alcott - Novels, Short Stories, Plays & Poems (Illustrated Edition)

Louisa May Alcott

Little Women, A Modern Mephistopheles, Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom

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2017 OK Publishing

ISBN 978-80-272-0064-1

Biography: Biography: Table of Contents

Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals Table of Contents Chapter I. GENEALOGY AND PARENTAGE. Chapter II. CHILDHOOD. Chapter III. FRUITLANDS. Chapter IV. THE SENTIMENTAL PERIOD. Chapter V. AUTHORSHIP. Chapter VI. THE YEAR OF GOOD LUCK. Chapter VII. HOSPITAL SKETCHES. Chapter VIII. EUROPE AND LITTLE WOMEN. Chapter IX. EUROPE. Chapter X. FAMILY CHANGES. Chapter XI. LAST YEARS. Chapter XII. CONCLUSION.

Novels: Novels: Table of Contents

Little Women

Good Wives

Little Men

Jo’s Boys

Moods

The Mysterious Key and What It Opened

An Old Fashioned Girl

Work: A Story of Experience

Eight Cousins; or, The Aunt-Hill

Rose in Bloom: A Sequel to Eight Cousins

Under the Lilacs

Jack and Jill: A Village Story

Behind a Mask, or a Woman's Power

The Abbot's Ghost, or Maurice Treherne's Temptation

A Modern Mephistopheles

Pauline's Passion and Punishment

Short Story Collections:

Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag

Shawl-Straps

Jimmy's Cruise in the Pinafore, Etc.

An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, Etc.

Lulu's Library

Flower Fables

On Picket Duty, and other tales

Spinning-Wheel Stories

A Garland for Girls

Silver Pitchers: and Independence, a Centennial Love Story

A Merry Christmas & Other Christmas Stories

Other Short Stories and Novelettes:

Hospital Sketches

Marjorie's Three Gifts

Perilous Play

A Whisper in the Dark

Lost in a Pyramid, or the Mummy's Curse

A Modern Cinderella

A Country Christmas

Aunt Kipp

Debby’s Debut

My Red Cap

Nelly’s Hospital

Psyche’s Art

The Brothers

Poetry:

A. B. A.

A Little Grey Curl

To Papa

In Memoriam

Plays:

Bianca

Captive of Castile

Ion

Norna; or, The Witch's Curse

The Greek Slave

The Unloved Wife

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter I. GENEALOGY AND PARENTAGE.

Chapter II. CHILDHOOD.

Chapter III. FRUITLANDS.

Chapter IV. THE SENTIMENTAL PERIOD.

Chapter V. AUTHORSHIP.

Chapter VI. THE YEAR OF GOOD LUCK.

Chapter VII. HOSPITAL SKETCHES.

Chapter VIII. EUROPE AND LITTLE WOMEN.

Chapter IX. EUROPE.

Chapter X. FAMILY CHANGES.

Chapter XI. LAST YEARS.

Chapter XII. CONCLUSION.

Table of Contents

TO LOUISA MAY ALCOTT.

BY HER FATHER.

When I remember with what buoyant heart,

Midst war's alarms and woes of civil strife,

In youthful eagerness thou didst depart,

At peril of thy safety, peace, and life,

To nurse the wounded soldier, swathe the dead,–

How piercèd soon by fever's poisoned dart,

And brought unconscious home, with wildered head,

Thou ever since 'mid langour and dull pain,

To conquer fortune, cherish kindred dear,

Hast with grave studies vexed a sprightly brain,

In myriad households kindled love and cheer,

Ne'er from thyself by Fame's loud trump beguiled,

Sounding in this and the farther hemisphere,–

I press thee to my heart as Duty's faithful child.

LOUISA ALCOTT was the second child of Amos Bronson and Abba May Alcott. This name was spelled Alcocke in English history. About 1616 a coat-of-arms was granted to Thomas Alcocke of Silbertoft, in the county of Leicester. The device represents three cocks, emblematic of watchfulness; and the motto is Semper Vigilans .

The first of the name appearing in English history is John Alcocke of Beverley, Yorkshire, of whom Fuller gives an account in his Worthies of England.

Thomas and George Alcocke were the first of the name among the settlers in New England. The name is frequently found in the records of Dorchester and Roxbury, and has passed through successive changes to its present form.

The name of Bronson came from Mr. Alcott's maternal grandfather, the sturdy Capt. Amos Bronson of Plymouth, Conn. "His ancestors on both sides had been substantial people of respectable position in England, and were connected with the founders and governors of the chief New England colonies. At the time of Mr. Alcott's birth they had become simple farmers, reaping a scanty living from their small farms in Connecticut."

Amos Bronson Alcott, the father of Louisa, was born Nov. 29, 1799, at the foot of Spindle Hill, in the region called New Connecticut. He has himself given in simple verse the story of his quaint rustic life in his boyhood, and Louisa has reproduced it in her story of "Eli's Education" (in the Spinning-Wheel Stories), which gives a very true account of his youthful life and adventures. He derived his refined, gentle nature from his mother, who had faith in her son, and who lived to see him the accomplished scholar he had vowed to become in his boyhood. Although brought up in these rustic surroundings, his manners were always those of a true gentleman. The name of the little mountain town afterward became Wolcott, and Louisa records in her journal a pilgrimage made thither in after years.

Louisa Alcott's mother was a daughter of Col. Joseph May of Boston. This family is so well known that it is hardly necessary to repeat its genealogy here. She was a sister of Samuel J. May, for many years pastor of the Unitarian church at Syracuse, who was so tenderly beloved by men of all religious persuasions in his home, and so widely known and respected for his courage and zeal in the Antislavery cause, as well as for his many philanthropic labors.

Mrs. Alcott's mother was Dorothy Sewall, a descendant of that family already distinguished in the annals of the Massachusetts colony, and which has lost nothing of its reputation for ability and virtue in its latest representatives.

Mrs. Alcott inherited in large measure the traits which distinguished her family. She was a woman of large stature, fine physique, and overflowing life. Her temper was as quick and warm as her affections, but she was full of broad unselfish generosity. Her untiring energies were constantly employed, not only for the benefit of her family, but for all around her. She had a fine mind, and if she did not have large opportunities for scholastic instruction, she always enjoyed the benefit of intellectual society and converse with noble minds. She loved expression in writing, and her letters are full of wit and humor, keen criticism, and noble moral sentiments. Marriage with an idealist, who had no means of support, brought her many trials and privations. She bore them heroically, never wavering in affection for her husband or in devotion to her children. If the quick, impatient temper sometimes relieved itself in hasty speech, the action was always large and unselfish.

It will be apparent from Louisa's life that she inherited the traits of both her parents, and that the uncommon powers of mind and heart that distinguished her were not accidental, but the accumulated result of the lives of generations of strong and noble men and women.