small voice coming out of the
darkness. It said, "Why, dat's me." The crier went to the voice, and
found Louisa sitting by the big dog on the door-step. The next day she
was tied to the sofa to punish her for running away.

She and her sisters learned to sew well. Louisa set up as a doll's
dress-maker. She was then twelve years old. She hung out a little
sign. She put some pretty dresses in the window to show how well
she could do.

Other girls liked the little dresses that she made. They came to her
to get dresses made for their dolls. They liked the little doll's hats
she made better than all. Louisa chased the chickens to get soft
feathers for these hats.

She turned the old fairy tales into little plays. The children played
these plays in the barn.

One of these plays was Jack and the Bean-stalk. A squash vine was put
up in the barn. This was the bean-stalk. When it was cut down, the
boy who played giant would come tumbling out of the hay-loft.

Louisa found it hard to be good and o-be-di-ent. She wrote some verses
about being good. She was fourteen years old when she wrote them. Here
they are:--

MY KINGDOM.

A little kingdom I possess
Where thoughts and feelings dwell,
And very hard I find the task
Of gov-ern-ing it well.

For passion tempts and troubles me,
A wayward will misleads,
And sel-fish-ness its shadow casts
On all my words and deeds.

I do not ask for any crown
But that which all may win,
Nor seek to conquer any world
Except the one within.

The Al-cott family were very poor. Louisa
made up her mind to do something to make money
when she got big. She did not like
being so very poor.

[Illustration]

One day she was sitting on a cart-wheel thinking. She was thinking how
poor her father was. There was a crow up in the air over her head. The
crow was cawing. There was nobody to tell her thoughts to but the
crow. She shook her fist at the big bird, and said,--

"I will do something by and by. Don't care what. I'll teach, sew, act,
write, do anything to help the family. And I'll be rich and famous
before I die. See if I don't."

The crow did not make any answer. But Louisa kept thinking about the
work she was going to do. The other children got work to do that made
money. But Louisa was left at home to do housework. She had to do the
washing. She made a little song about it. Here are some of the verses
of this