her's I

letters; it is reflected in the journals of her girls and in the musings of Bronson Alcott, as set down in his v

en" has said that the girls gave their hearts into their mother's keeping, their souls into their father's. Anna's letters bear eloquent testimony to the strong, helpful

to Mrs.

Aug. 12t

y Mor

ar Mo

, and little sister Lizy and Louisa. Doctor Fuller is coming to cure

n

rs of

e had drawn

ars old when s

Mot

t I have got. I am very glad my birthday is so near for as I grow older, I hope I shall grow better and more useful to you, I hope soon we shall be se

lovin

ion between mother and child is this

o

est

itl

mot

ld have been happier I think. I have enjoyed this morning readings and conversations better than I have before for a good while, I suppose, because I talked and I understood it so well. I do not write to you very often dear mother but I love to dearly when I feel like it, and I love to have le

n

uisa admired, respected, and loved her father, but to her mother her tenderest thought was given. Marmee understood the wayward, te

r litt

She will be a quiet play mate for my active Louisa for s

mot

., Bosto

hen this birthda

e in C

Dau

ning birthday may you feel new strength and resolution to be gentle wi

for I have observed that you are fond o

yourself, for the cause of your little troubles is in yourself, & patience & c

en, she found this little note tucked carefully aw

itl

d

e of nature is pure and true. It is a lovely school in which good lessons may be learned.

tle foun

ess thro

rer taste

the sil

eekly to

hild's own personality is shown by the mother, in that way

Dau

y, the beauty of the prospect from your window. Cherish this love of nature, dear, enjoy all it gives you, for God made these helps to charm contemplation

occasionally adding in later life annotations of her own. Thi

isa Alcot

ord,

r L

just such an industrious daughter & I such a feeble but loving mother, looking to your labor for

th

Mrs. A. Bro

daguerr

e 1

and the lines written b

Mot

on dear mother

my fancy has so of

y chamber, the cu

your reading, the v

indow where the sun s

nd quiet, the promi

beside you, cont

dear mother, & I

realized and the dream of m

Marmee invariably came to the rescue and persuaded her discouraged daughter to use the pen she was ready to lay down. Even in Louisa's childhood, when her only promise of future liter

Lou

to me they are always precious. Anything like intellectual progress in my children seems to compensate for much disappointment & perplexity in my own life. Do write a

r y

th

mother accompanies the gift o

s pen your

in pure p

sweet, some th

love or so

clear but

ter hope

strain be s

e, of crowns b

our pen, insp

h note joy's

o her mother's influence. This letter, carefully preserved in the daugh

Bir

lsi

ar

t freely & worthily that each day of this your fifteent

elps the loving, trusting heart that turns to Him. Lift up your soul to me

obtaining a noble one. Industry, patience, love, creates, endures, gives all things, for these are the attributes of the Almighty, & they make u

th

29th,

of "Little Women" will recall. She was about seven when she s

Frida

Mot

a good pen. I hope I shall improve in all my studies this summer. I hope I can read German & French very

your

zab

ay. From the time they were old enough to print, the Alcott children on the mother's birthday made her some little gift, acc

Mot

and when you wear it think of me. I have taken a great-deal of Pleasure

earest Lov

little d

letter to her brother she wrote: "My father has never married a daughter or son more completely happy than I am. I have cares, and soon they will be arduous ones, but with the mild, constant, and affectionate sympathy

t days when all her burdens were laid down. To her, the husband who was so long denied material success and intellectual sympathy ever remained the lover and friend. Her admiration for him was unb

s. Richard Hildredth, wife of the historian and aunt of the portrait painter, George F

hade, the dark portion of the figure. Mrs. Hildredth has changed the costume from a dress suit to a mantle draped about the shoulders. This, I do not like. The chaste simplicity of Mr. Alcott's dress is more in character and keeping with the severe simplicity and r

quite as much from mother as from father, and flashes of the quaint humor so delightful in the daughter's books are found in the mother's lette

mselves true poetic beauty. One of the most exquisite of these poems was written by her on t

figur

Mem

eath; who in

old can

thy art

weakness to

h the weight o

h the nob

ctoriou

ding heavenward,

se of loss our

le was

t as hap

n-brave, beaut

rrow dropped the

ed the t

ls in d

ine so patien

ought their harve

emory a

er fon

land for the