THE COMPLETE WORKS OF LOUISA MAY ALCOTT: Novels, Short Stories, Plays & Poems (Illustrated Edition). Louisa May Alcott

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      CHAPTER I.

       GENEALOGY AND PARENTAGE.

       Table of Contents

      TO LOUISA MAY ALCOTT.

      BY HER FATHER.

       When I remember with what buoyant heart,

       Midst war's alarms and woes of civil strife,

       In youthful eagerness thou didst depart,

       At peril of thy safety, peace, and life,

       To nurse the wounded soldier, swathe the dead,–

       How piercèd soon by fever's poisoned dart,

       And brought unconscious home, with wildered head,

       Thou ever since 'mid langour and dull pain,

       To conquer fortune, cherish kindred dear,

       Hast with grave studies vexed a sprightly brain,

       In myriad households kindled love and cheer,

       Ne'er from thyself by Fame's loud trump beguiled,

       Sounding in this and the farther hemisphere,–

       I press thee to my heart as Duty's faithful child.

      LOUISA ALCOTT was the second child of Amos Bronson and Abba May Alcott. This name was spelled Alcocke in English history. About 1616 a coat-of-arms was granted to Thomas Alcocke of Silbertoft, in the county of Leicester. The device represents three cocks, emblematic of watchfulness; and the motto is Semper Vigilans.

      The first of the name appearing in English history is John Alcocke of Beverley, Yorkshire, of whom Fuller gives an account in his Worthies of England.

      Thomas and George Alcocke were the first of the name among the settlers in New England. The name is frequently found in the records of Dorchester and Roxbury, and has passed through successive changes to its present form.

      The name of Bronson came from Mr. Alcott's maternal grandfather, the sturdy Capt. Amos Bronson of Plymouth, Conn. "His ancestors on both sides had been substantial people of respectable position in England, and were connected with the founders and governors of the chief New England colonies. At the time of Mr. Alcott's birth they had become simple farmers, reaping a scanty living from their small farms in Connecticut."

      Amos Bronson Alcott, the father of Louisa, was born Nov. 29, 1799, at the foot of Spindle Hill, in the region called New Connecticut. He has himself given in simple verse the story of his quaint rustic life in his boyhood, and Louisa has reproduced it in her story of "Eli's Education" (in the Spinning-Wheel Stories), which gives a very true account of his youthful life and adventures. He derived his refined, gentle nature from his mother, who had faith in her son, and who lived to see him the accomplished scholar he had vowed to become in his boyhood. Although brought up in these rustic surroundings, his manners were always those of a true gentleman. СКАЧАТЬ