About Louisa May Alcott:

      Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888) was an American novelist and poet best known as the author of the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886). Raised by her transcendentalist parents, Abigail May and Amos Bronson Alcott in New England, she also grew up among many of the well-known intellectuals of the day such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

      Alcott's family suffered from financial difficulties, and while she worked to help support the family from an early age, she also sought an outlet in writing. She began to receive critical success for her writing in the 1860s. Early in her career, she sometimes used the pen name A. M. Barnard, under which she wrote novels for young adults that focused on spies, revenge, and cross dressers.

      Published in 1868, Little Women is set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts and is loosely based on Alcott's childhood experiences with her three sisters. The novel was very well received and is still a popular children's novel today, filmed several times.

      Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist and remained unmarried throughout her life. She died from a stroke, two days after her father died, in Boston on March 6, 1888.

      Source: Wikipedia

      Tilly's Christmas

      "I'm so glad tomorrow is Christmas because I'm going to have lots of presents," said Kate, glowing with anticipation.

      "I'm glad as well," Bessy chimed, "though I don't expect any presents but a pair of mittens."

      It was Tilly's turn to speak, and she startled them with her words, ''I'm very glad tomorrow is Christmas, even though I shan't have any presents at all."

      These sentiments were spoken as the three little girls trudged home from school, and Tilly's words struck a cord of pity in the others. Kate and Bessy wondered how she could speak so cheerfully and be so happy when she was too poor to receive even the smallest of gifts on Christmas Day.

      "Don't you wish you could find a purse full of money right here in the path?" asked Kate, the child who was going to have lots of presents.

      "Oh, don't I! If I could keep it honestly, that is," said Tilly, her eyes glowing at the prospect.

      "What would you buy?" asked Bessy, rubbing her cold hands and longing for her mittens.

      "I've worked it all out in my mind," Tilly responded. "I'd buy a pair of large, warm blankets, a load of wood, a shawl for mother, and a pair of shoes for me. If there was enough left, I'd give Bessy a new hat so that she would not have to wear Ben's old felt one."

      The girls giggled at that, but Bessy pulled the funny hat down over her ears and said she was much obliged but she would rather have candy.