Speaker 1: Louisa may Alcott. As much as seventy years ago, in
Speaker 1: the city of Boston, there lived a small girl who
Speaker 1: had the naughty habit of running away. On a certain
Speaker 1: April morning, almost as soon as her mother finished buttoning
Speaker 1: her dress, Louisa may Alcott slipped out of the house
Speaker 1: and up the street as fast as her feet could
Speaker 1: carry her. Louisa crept through a narrow alley and crossed
Speaker 1: several streets. It was a beautiful day, and she did
Speaker 1: not care so very much just where she went, so
Speaker 1: long as she was having an adventure all by herself.
Speaker 1: Suddenly she came upon some children who said they were
Speaker 1: going to a nice tall ash heap to play. They
Speaker 1: asked her to join them. Louisa thought they were fine playmates,
Speaker 1: for when she grew hungry, they shared some cold potatoes
Speaker 1: and bread crusts with her. She would not have thought
Speaker 1: this much of a lunch in her mother's dining room,
Speaker 1: but for an outdoor picnic, it did very well. When
Speaker 1: she tired of the ane, she bade the children good bye,
Speaker 1: thanked them for their kindness, and hop skip to the common,
Speaker 1: where she must have wandered about for hours, because all
Speaker 1: of a sudden it began to grow dark. Then she
Speaker 1: wanted to get home. She wanted her doll, her kitty,
Speaker 1: and her mother. It frightened her when she could not
Speaker 1: find any street that looked natural. She was hungry and
Speaker 1: tired too. She threw herself down on some door steps
Speaker 1: to rest and to watch the lamp lighter. For you
Speaker 1: must remember this was long before there was any gas
Speaker 1: or electricity in Boston. At this moment, a big dog
Speaker 1: came along. He kissed her face and hands, and then
Speaker 1: sat down beside her with a sober look in his eyes,
Speaker 1: as if he were thinking, I guess, little girl, you
Speaker 1: need someone to take care of you. Poor tired Louisa
Speaker 1: leaned against his neck and was fast asleep in no time.
Speaker 1: The dog kept very still, he did not want to
Speaker 1: wake her. Pretty soon the town crier went by. He
Speaker 1: was ringing a bell and reading in a loud voice
Speaker 1: from a paper in his hand, the description of a
Speaker 1: lost child. You see, Luisa's father and mother had missed
Speaker 1: her early in the forenoon and had looked for her
Speaker 1: in every place they could think of. Each hour they
Speaker 1: grew more worried, and at dusk they decided to hire
Speaker 1: this man to search the city. When the runaway woke
Speaker 1: up and heard what the man was shouting. Lost, lost,
Speaker 1: a little girl six years old in a pink frock,
Speaker 1: white hat and new green shoes. She called out in
Speaker 1: the darkness, why that's me. The town choir took Louisa
Speaker 1: by the hand and led her home, where you may
Speaker 1: be sure she was welcomed with joy. Mister and missus Alcott,
Speaker 1: from first to last had had a good many frights
Speaker 1: about this flyaway Louisa. Once, when she was only two
Speaker 1: years old, they were traveling with her on a steamboat,
Speaker 1: and she darted away in some moment when no one
Speaker 1: was noticing her, and crawled into the engine room to
Speaker 1: watch the machinery. Of course, her clothes were all grease
Speaker 1: and dirt, and she might have been caught in the
Speaker 1: machinery and hurt. You won't be surprised to know that.
Speaker 1: The next day, after this last affair, Louisa's parents made
Speaker 1: sure that she did not leave the house. Indeed, to
Speaker 1: be entirely certain of her whereabouts, they tied her to
Speaker 1: the leg of a big sofa for a whole day.
Speaker 1: Except for this one fault, Louisa was a good child,
Speaker 1: so she felt much ashamed that she had caused her mother,
Speaker 1: whom she loved dearly, so much worry. As she sat there,
Speaker 1: tied to the sofa, she made up her mind that
Speaker 1: she would never frighten her so again. No, she would
Speaker 1: cure herself of the running away habit. After that day,
Speaker 1: whenever she felt the least desire to slip out of
Speaker 1: the house without asking permission, she would hurry to her
Speaker 1: own little room and shut the door tight. To keep
Speaker 1: her mind from bad plans, she would shut her eyes
Speaker 1: and make up stories, think them all out herself, you know.
Speaker 1: Then when some of them seemed pretty good, she would
Speaker 1: write them down so that she would not forget them.
Speaker 1: By and by, she found she liked making stories better
Speaker 1: than anything she had ever done in her life. Her
Speaker 1: mother sometimes wondered why Luisa grew so fond of staying
Speaker 1: in her little chamber at the head of the stairs
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, but was pleased that the runaway
Speaker 1: child had changed into such a quiet, like to stay
Speaker 1: at home girl. It was a long time before Luisa
Speaker 1: dared to mention the stories and rhymes she had hidden
Speaker 1: in her desk, but finally she told her mother about them,
Speaker 1: and when Missus Alcott had read them, she advised her
Speaker 1: to keep on writing. Luisa did so and became one
Speaker 1: of the best American story tellers. She wrote a number
Speaker 1: of books, and if you begin with Lulu's Library, you
Speaker 1: will want to read Little Men and Little Women and
Speaker 1: all the books that dear Luisa Alcot ever wrote. At first,
Speaker 1: Louisa was paid but small sums for her writings, and
Speaker 1: as the Alcott family were poor, she taught school, did sewing,
Speaker 1: took care of children, or worked at anything, always with
Speaker 1: a merry smile, so long as it provided comforts for
Speaker 1: those she loved. When the Civil War broke out, she
Speaker 1: was anxious to do something to help, so she went
Speaker 1: into one of the Union hospitals as a nurse. She
Speaker 1: worked so hard that she grew very ill, and her
Speaker 1: father had to go after her and bring her home.
Speaker 1: One of her books tells about her life in the hospital.
Speaker 1: It was soon after her return home that her books
Speaker 1: began to sell so well that she found herself for
Speaker 1: the first time in her life, with a great deal
Speaker 1: of money. There was enough to buy luxuries for the
Speaker 1: Alcott family. There was enough for her to travel, no doubt.
Speaker 1: She got more happiness in traveling than some people, for
Speaker 1: she found boys and girls in England, France and Germany,
Speaker 1: reading the very book she herself, Luisa may Alcott, had
Speaker 1: written then too, at the age of fifty. She enjoyed
Speaker 1: venturing into new places just as well as she did
Speaker 1: the morning she sallied forth to Boston Common in her
Speaker 1: new green shoes and of Luisa may Alcott