Part 19 (2/2)

”I was born with a boy's spirit under my bib and tucker I _can't wait_ when I _can work_; so I took ain, braver than before, and wiser for ht one, and that the winter in Boston was not merely an adventure, is shown by her declaration:

”I don't often pray in words; but when I set out that day with all s (25) in my pocket, and much hope and resolution in my soul, my heart was very full, and I said to the Lord, 'Help us all, and keep us for one another,' as I never said it before, while I looked back at the dear faces watching me, so full of love, and hope, and faith”

Louisa Alcott's childhood and girlhood, with all the hardshi+ps and joys which went into the passing years, had beenpreface to the years of fairl had becoeous older wos in her pocket, her worldly goods in her trunk, and hopeful deter in the world, for the sake of those she dearly loved She had started up the steep slope of her life's real adventuring, and despite the rough paths over which she oal, she was more and allant soldier, and a noble woreat deeds So enthusiastic was she in playing her part in the world's work, that when she enty-seven years old, and still toiling on, with a scant measure of either wealth or fame, she exclaimed at a small success:

”Hurrah! My story was accepted and Lowell asked if it was not a translation from the German, it was so unlike other tales I felt much set up, and my fifty dollars will be very happyaway all these years in vain, and I may yet have books and publishers, and a fortune of one to my head, and I wander a little

”Twenty-seven years old and very happy!”

The prediction of ”books, publishers and a fortune” caed her to write a story for girls, and she had the idea of describing the early life of her own home, with its many episodes and incidents She wrote the book and called it _Little Women_, and was the most surprised person in the world, when from her cozy corner of Concord she watched edition after edition being published, and found that she had becoed to the public, and one has but to turn to the pages of her ably edited _Life, Letters and Journals_, to realize the source froirls,” bound by a beautiful tie of family love, that neither poverty, sorrow nor death could sever Four little pilgrih all the difficulties that beset them on their way, in Concord, Boston, Walpole and elsewhere, had provided huenius of Louisa Alcott ht and inspiration of succeeding generations of girls

_Little Women_ was followed by _Little Men_, _Old Fashi+oned Girl_, _Eight Cousins_, _Rose in Bloo books for young people And, although the incidents in them were not all taken from real life as were those of her first ”immortal,” yet was each and every book a faithful picture of every-day life That is where the genius of Louisa Alcott canos, she early turned to paint the real, the vital and the heroic, which is being lived in so many households where there is little hter, tender affection for one another, and a deep and abiding love of hu Americans take exa to set the world on fire in the expression of their genius, learn not to despise or to turn away from the simple, commonplace details of every-day life

And for successful life and work, there is no better inspiration than the three rules given Louisa Alcott in girlhood for her daily guidance:

Rule yourself; Love your neighbor; Do the duty which lies nearest you

CLARA MORRIS: THE GIRL WHO WON FAME AS AN ACTRESS

A certain young person who lived in a boarding-house in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, was approaching her thirteenth birthday, which fact made her feel very old, and also very anxious to do soed fro for her young daughter and herself

Spring ca person, seeing herand helpless The hu to support her--and with the dignity of thirteen years close upon her, washerself into her s herself on her knees and with a passion of tears prayed that God would help her

”Dear God,” she cried, ”just pity me and shohat to do Please!”

Her entreaty was that of the child who has perfect confidence in the Father to who ”Help me to help my mother If you will, I'll never say 'No!' to any wo!”

In her story of her life, which the young person wrote onized plea: ”My error in trying to barter with iven, for my prayer was answered within a week I have tried faithfully to keep ht my aid has ever been answered with a 'No!'”

So to Some One who person went through the dreary routine of boarding-house days ht, when she lay tossing and trying to sleep despite the scorching heat, she see the thirteen years of her existence as if she were getting ready to pigeon-hole the past, to make ready for a fuller future

With clear distinctness she re been told by her mother, in the manner of old-fashi+oned tellers, that, ”Once upon a time, in the Canadian city of Toronto, in the year 1849, on the 17th of March--the day of celebrating the birth of good old St Patrick, in a quiet house not far fro of revelers and the blare of brass bands, a young person was born” Memory carried on the story, as she lay there in the dark, still hours of the night, and she repeated to herself the oft-told tale of those few months she and her mother spent in the Canadian city before they journeyed back to the United States, where in Cleveland the mother tried many different kinds of occupations by which to support the child and herself It was a strange life the young person remembered in those early days She and her mother had to flit so often--suddenly, noiselessly Often she re sih the dark to soe Then, too, when other children walked in the streets or played, bare-headed or only with hat on, she wore a tore she began to notice that if a strange lady spoke to her the mother seehtened, and hurried her away as fast as possible At first this was all a reat fear in her hts, were all to be traced to a father who had not been good to the brave irl and fled froed for the child Only too well the young person remembered some of those scenes of frantic appeal on the father's side, of angry refusal by her mother, followed always by another hasty retreat to sootten day--there was a vivid recollection of the time when the father asserted brutally that ”he would ave up the child”--that ”by fair ain his end” Soon afterward he did kidnap the young person, but the mother was too quick for hiain

This necessary habit of conceal,but an easy matter for them both The ain irl to walk out alone, even for a short distance, and in such positions as the older woman was able to secure, it was alith the promise that the child should be no nuisance

And so the young person grew up in a habit of self-efface quietly in corners where she could not be seen or heard, instead of playing with other children of her own age Then caht about it, brought the tears to her eyes, she had so longed to have it come true

When she was six years old, she and her -house in Cleveland, where there was a good-natured actress boarding, who took such a fancy to the shy little girl as always sitting in a corner reading a book, that one day she approached the astonishedsurprise on the mother's face, she frankly told of her position, her incoirl a fine education She thought a convent school would be desirable, fro person was seventeen