and
badness and all sorts of things. The goods I keep where I can see
them, and the bads I lock up tight, but they get out, and I have to
keep putting them in and squeezing them down, they are so strong. The
thoughts I play with when I am alone or in bed, and I make up and do
what I like with them. Every Sunday I put my room in order, and talk
with the little spirit that lives there, and tell him what to do. He
is very bad sometimes and won't mind me, and I have to scold him."

Truly a strange game for a child to play, but the Alcotts were brought
up to a reverent knowledge of their souls as well as their bodies, and
many a sober talk at twilight did mother or father have with the
daughters to whom the experience of the older generation was helpful
and inspiring. A very happy family they were, despite frequent lack of
luxuries and even necessities, but loyalty and generosity as their
marked characteristics. No matter how little money or food an Alcott
had, it was always shared with any one who had less, and the largest
share was usually given away.

On Louisa's fourth birthday, she tells of a feast given in her honor
in her father's school-room in Masonic Temple. All the children were
there, and Louisa wore a crown of flowers and stood upon a table to
give a cake to each child as they all marched around the table. "By
some oversight," says Louisa, "the cakes fell short, and I saw that if
I gave away the last one, _I_ should have none. As I was queen of the
revel, I felt that I ought to have it, and held on to it tightly,
until my mother said: 'It is always better to give away than to keep
the nice things; so I know my Louy will not let the little friend go
without.'" She adds: "The little friend received the dear plummy cake,
and I ... my first lesson in the sweetness of self-denial--a lesson
which my dear mother illustrated all her long and noble life."

At another time a starving family was discovered, when the Alcotts,
forming in a procession, carried their own breakfast to the hungry
ones. On one occasion, when a friend had unexpected guests arrive for
dinner, too late to secure any extra provisions, the Alcotts with
great glee lent their dinner to the thankful hostess, and thought it a
good joke. Again, on a snowy Saturday night, when their wood-pile was
extra low, and there was no way of getting any more that week, a poor
child came to beg a little, as their baby was sick and the father on a
spree with all his