An Old-fashioned Girl
by Louisa M. Alcott
An Old-fashioned Girl
by Louisa M. Alcott
Preface
AS a preface is the only place where an author can with propriety
explain a purpose or apologize for shortcomings, I venture to avail
myself of the privilege to make a statement for the benefit of my
readers.
As the first part of “An Old-Fashioned Girl” was written in 1869,
the demand for a sequel, in beseeching little letters that made
refusal impossible, rendered it necessary to carry my heroine
boldly forward some six or seven years into the future. The
domestic nature of the story makes this audacious proceeding
possible; while the lively fancies of my young readers will supply
all deficiencies, and overlook all discrepancies.
This explanation will, I trust, relieve those well-regulated minds,
who cannot conceive of such literary lawlessness, from the
bewilderment which they suffered when the same experiment was
tried in a former book.
The “Old-Fashioned Girl” is not intended as a perfect model, but as
a possible improvement upon [Page] the Girl of the Period, who
seems sorrowfully ignorant or ashamed of the good old fashions
which make woman truly beautiful and honored, and, through her,
render home what it should be,-a happy place, where parents and
children, brothers and sisters, learn to love and know and help one
another.
If the history of Polly’s girlish experiences suggests a hint or
insinuates a lesson, I shall feel that, in spite of many obstacles, I
have not entirely neglected my duty toward the little men and
women, for whom it is an honor and a pleasure to write, since in
them I have always found my kindest patrons, gentlest critics,
warmest friends.
L. M. A.
Contents
Chapter 1. Polly Arrives
Chapter 2. New Fashions
Chapter 3. Polly’s Troubles
Chapter 4. Little Things
Chapter 5. Scrapes
Chapter 6. Grandma
Chapter 7. Good-by
Chapter 8. Six Years Afterward
Chapter 9. Lessons
Chapter 10. Brothers and Sisters
Chapter 11. Needles and Tongues
Chapter 12. Forbidden Fruit
Chapter 13. The Sunny Side
Chapter 14. Nipped in the Bud
Chapter 15. Breakers Ahead
Chapter 16. A Dress Parade
Chapter 17. Playing Grandmother
Chapter 18. The Woman Who Did Not Dare
Chapter 19. Tom’s Success
An Old-fashioned Girl
CHAPTER I POLLY ARRIVES
“IT ‘S time to go to the station, Tom.”
“Come on, then.”
“Oh, I ‘m not going; it ‘s too wet. Should n’t have a crimp left if I
went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly
comes.”
“You don’t expect me to go and bring home a strange girl alone, do
you?” And Tom looked as much alarmed as if his sister had
proposed to him to escort the wild woman of Australia.
“Of course I do. It ‘s your place to go and get her; and if you was n’t
a bear, you ‘d like it.”
“Well, I call that mean! I supposed I ‘d got to go; but you said you
‘d go, too. Catch me bothering about your friends another time!
No, sir! ” And Tom rose from the sofa with an air of indignant
resolution, the impressive effect of which was somewhat damaged
by a tousled head, and the hunched appearance of his garments
generally.
“Now, don’t be cross; and I ‘ll get mamma to let you have that
horrid Ned Miller, that you are so fond of, come and make you a
visit after Polly ‘s gone,” said Fanny, hoping to soothe his ruffled
feelings.
“How long is she going to stay?” demanded Tom, making his toilet
by a promiscuous shake.
“A month or two, maybe. She ‘s ever so nice; and I shall keep her
as long as she ‘s happy.”
“She won’t stay long then, if I can help it,” muttered Tom, who
regarded girls as a very unnecessary portion of creation. Boys of
fourteen are apt to think so, and perhaps it is a wise arrangement;
for, being fond of turning somersaults, they have an opportunity of
indulging in a good one, metaphorically speaking, when, three or
four years later, they become the abject slaves of “those bothering
girls.”
“Look here! how am I going to know the creature? I never saw her,