At last, one day, a publisher asked Louisa, who was now a woman, to write a book for girls.  Louisa was not very well, and she was very tired, but she always said, “I’ll try,” when she had a chance to work; so she said, “I’ll try,” to the publisher.  When she thought about the book she remembered the good times she used to have with her sisters in the big, bare house in the country.  And so she wrote a story and put all that in it; she put her dear mother and her wise father in it, and all the little sisters, and besides the jolly times and the plays, she put the sad, hard times in,—­the work and worry and going without things.

When the book was written, she called it “Little Women,” and sent it to the publisher.

And, children, the little book made Louisa famous.  It was so sweet and funny and sad and real,—­like our own lives,—­that everybody wanted to read it.  Everybody bought it, and much money came from it.  After so many years, little Louisa’s wish came true:  she bought a nice house for her family; she sent one of her sisters to Europe, to study; she gave her father books; but best of all, she was able to see to it that the beloved mother, so tired and so ill, could have rest and happiness.  Never again did the dear mother have to do any hard work, and she had pretty things about her all the rest of her life.

Louisa Alcott, for that was Louisa’s name, wrote many beautiful books after this, and she became one of the most famous women of America.  But I think the most beautiful thing about her is what I have been telling you:  that she loved her mother so well that she gave her whole life to make her happy.

MY KINGDOM

The little Louisa I told you about, who wrote verses and stories in her diary, used to like to play that she was a princess, and that her kingdom was her own mind.  When she had unkind or dissatisfied thoughts, she tried to get rid of them by playing they were enemies of the kingdom; and she drove them out with soldiers; the soldiers were patience, duty, and love.  It used to help Louisa to be good to play this, and I think it may have helped make her the splendid woman she was afterward.  Maybe you would like to hear a poem she wrote about it, when she was only fourteen years old.[1] It will help you, too, to think the same thoughts.

[1] From Louisa M. Alcott’s Life, Letters, and Journals (Little, Brown & Co.).  Copyright, 1878, by Louisa M. Alcott.  Copyright, 1906, by J. S. P. Alcott.

 A little kingdom I possess,
   Where thoughts and feelings dwell,
 And very hard I find the task
   Of governing it well;
 For passion tempts and troubles me,
   A wayward will misleads,
 And selfishness its shadow casts
   On all my words and deeds.

 How can I learn to rule myself,
   To be the child I should,
 Honest and brave, nor ever tire
   Of trying to be good? 
 How can I keep a sunny soul
   To shine along life’s way? 
 How can I tune my little heart
   To sweetly sing all day?