-
“Glimpses of the Real Louisa May Alcott” (1938)
- University of Iowa Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
“Glimpses of the Real Louisa May Alcott” (1938) Marion Talbot Marion Talbot was the daughter of Emily Fairbanks Talbot, a philanthropist and co-worker with her husband, the homeopathic physician Dr. Israel Tisdale Talbot. Alcott knew the Talbots through their joint efforts at securing women’s right to vote. Marion, a graduate of Boston University, had organized a group of women from the university to call upon Alcott in May 1880. Louisa recorded the event: “Thirty girls from Boston University called; told stories, showed pictures , wrote autographs. Pleasant to see so much innocent enthusiasm, even about so poor a thing as a used up old woman. Bright girls! Simple in dress, sensible ideas of life, and love of education. I wish them all good luck” ( Journals , 225). Talbot’s recollections were written to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Alcott’s death, partly in response to other studies, notably Katherine Anthony’s recently published biography Louisa May Alcott (1938), that asserted “her life was one long increasing misery.” There are not many living who knew her well or have records of interest regarding her. It is possible that from an assortment which the present writer treasures some selections may add to the picture, real or mythical, of a woman who was great as well as beloved. . . . When, under the presidency of Mrs. Abby Morton Diaz, the author of William Henry Letters, efforts were made to increase the financial resources of the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union of Boston, the writer of the sketch arranged a benefit entertainment. She had a vivid memory of playing, as a child of nine years, the role of the Welsh Dwarf in Mrs. Jarley’s Wax Works, in which Miss Alcott was the inimitable show woman, and of the delightful home evenings when Miss Alcott joined the young people of the family and their college friends in impromptu charades. Miss Alcott would play the nurse in a hospital scene and gobble up the delicacies intended for the patient , or take any role that came to hand with inimitable humor and skill. So she was asked if she would help in the proposed entertainment. Unfortu- [224] * nately she was feeling the limitations on her strength—“a sad heart and a used-up body,” her journal notes—and replied as follows: Mrs. Pratt and Fred are at your service for Jarley and a farce whenever you want them. . . . I shall be glad to help all I can, but as Mrs. P likes acting and I don’t and as both cannot be in town at once, I shall hand this post over to her. Yours for the cause, L. M. A. The Sunday night suppers when she joined us quite simply were a great treat, especially the talks with the writer’s mother, for they had many interests in common. Her stories were unfailing in merriment. Even the tragic experience at Fruitlands had its humorous side. She told how Mr. Lane, the English member of the curious household, would come into the kitchen early in the morning and greet the women as they prepared for breakfast, with such strong language that they would remonstrate. He would then say, “What do the words matter when I mean ‘Good morning, it is a nice day!’” Her devotion to her father and her affection for him were unfailing, and yet with a kind of wistful humor she could tell of episodes in which his personal qualities must have been trying, to say the least. At one time a friend, believing that Mrs. Alcott was not clad warmly enough, gave Mr. Alcott ten dollars with which to buy her a shawl in Boston, whither he was about to go on a business trip. The family eagerly awaited his return with the gift for the mother. He came bearing a load of books which he displayed to the expectant group. “But where is mother’s shawl?” was the anxious inquiry. No reaction but patient resignation was possible after long years of experience as he explained that in passing a favorite bookstore he had seen in the window some books he had long wanted, and having the unusual experience of money in his pocket, he bought them. There was a funny side which Louisa fortunately saw and could even share by describing it. Although we knew that while serving as an army nurse she had been stricken with a terrible illness which nearly cost her her life, we were never aware that...