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The Quiet Little Woman: A Christmas StoryBy
Louisa May Alcott, Honor Books, 1999, 122 pages Buried treasures aren’t simply made of precious metals.
Stephen W. Hines rediscovered a Christmas short story written by Louisa May
Alcott and has published it, along with two other Christmas stories written by
Alcott, in a volume entitled The Quiet
Little Woman: A Christmas Story. As noted in the Introduction and Editor’s Notes, Hines found “The Quiet Little Woman” in a magazine for children, where it had gone practically unnoticed for over 70 years. This magazine, called Little Things, was the work of five young relatives, Carrie, Maggie, Nellie, Emma, and Helen Lukens. Devoted fans of Alcott, the young Lukens women had been inspired by the characters in Little Women to begin their own publication. People are still inspired by Alcott today. As the author of Little Women, an autobiographical novel of a family’s life in New England published in 1868, the book rapidly became one of the best-loved children’s stories of all time. Originally written at the request of her editors as a “girl’s book,” Little Women’s success was a surprise to Alcott. Due to popular demand, she followed this novel with two sequels that have also become classics, Little Men and Jo’s Boys. (As an example of the enduring quality of Little Women, my mom read it, I read it, my daughter read it, and the students at the high school where I am librarian still read it, even though it was published 132 years ago.) Alcott was interested in these young Lukens women and
their publication, so she wrote several stories for them, “for love¾not
for money.” This collection
contains one of those stories, “The Quiet Little Woman,” along with two other short stories of Alcott’s, “Tilly’s
Christmas,” and “Rosa’s Tale.” As in other works of Alcott, “The Quiet Little Woman” contains valuable moral lessons. This is a charming, romantic, and somewhat realistic story of an orphan named Patty, whose only wish is to be adopted by a rich family and loved. No one ever seems to want to choose quiet, pale, sober, shy Patty. “But God knew, and when the time came, He remembered Patty and sent her the help she so desperately needed. Sometimes when we least expect it, a small cross proves a lovely crown, a seemingly unimportant event becomes a lifelong experience, or a stranger becomes a friend.”1 At last Patty is chosen by a family, not as a daughter as she had hoped, but as a servant who is taken for granted by the good family for whom she diligently works. She finally is recognized as someone the family loves, which in the end is enough for Patty. Alcott reminds us through this story that goodness will be rewarded, but that we must also use our own abilities in working to overcome the difficulties we sometimes encounter. “Tilly’s Christmas” is also charming and romantic, with an almost fairy tale-like quality. Tilly is a poor little girl who expects no presents at all for Christmas. Walking home from school with her friends Kate and Bessy, Tilly finds a weakened, half-frozen robin in her pathway. The other girls refuse to have anything to do with the robin because he “can’t pay you for taking care of him,” and he will “fly away the first chance he gets and die anyway”2. Tilly says that if she were dying of cold and hunger, then she would wish for someone to help her, so she takes the robin home to love him and care for him. Tilly does not know that a rich benefactor has seen her good deed, and she receives much more on Christmas morning than she had ever dreamed. Alcott ends this story by stating that “by the love and tenderness she gave to the helpless creature, she brought good gifts to herself, happiness to an unknown benefactor, and the faithful friendship of a little friend who did not fly away.” 3 This is another of Alcott’s lessons about the rewards of being virtuous. In “Rosa’s Tale,” Alcott draws from the fable in which animals are given the power of speech at midnight on Christmas as a reward for their being silent while baby Jesus slept in His manger. Rosa is a horse who takes advantage of this gift to tell of the mistreatment she has suffered throughout her life. As a result of her conversation with Belinda, who is taking care of Rosa while her owner is away, Rosa is not sold as she had feared would happen, but is sent to board at a first-class stable. “Rosa’s Tale” reminds us to help those less fortunate than we are. The story also gives us hope that sometimes those Christmas wishes do come true, often with the help of good friends such as Belinda. A must read for Alcott fans, these short stories have some of the same qualities found in Little Women. The characters are strong women who succeed in making the best of unpleasant situations that life has provided. When good things happen to the characters, we are happy to see that virtue is rewarded. However, the reward isn’t always that one becomes rich or marries into wealth, but that one makes the right action. As in Little Women, these stories each have a moral lesson to teach. The Quiet Little
Woman: A Christmas Story is a collection of three easy-to-read and
heartwarming stories that portray the spirit of Christmas.
Even though the characters are not quite as believable or as well
developed as those are in Little Women, the stories are a wonderful read for the Christmas
season. Crossing the generation
gap, the book is good for all ages. I
enjoyed reading the stories, and I can’t wait to read them to my young nieces. ninetyandnine.com ã 2000, Shirley McDonald -------- Shirley
McDonald is a high school librarian and
attends First United Pentecostal Church in Denham Springs, LA. She loves to read and will resort to reading the backs of
those proverbial cereal boxes if she has nothing new to read. 1.
Page 19 2. Page 65 3. Page 74 Have an opinion on an article? Let us know how you feel! Click feedback & fill us in. |
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