LITTLE WOMEN by LOUISA MAY ALCOTT

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                          FORWARD

               LOUISA MAY ALCOTT  1832-1888

     Louisa May Alcott's novel brings to life vividly the life
of New England during the nineteenth century.   A  life  that
was tranquil, secure, and productive.

     It is little wonder,  for she drew on her own and on her
family's experiences for her work.   As one of four daughters
growing up in Boston.

     At the age of eight, she moved with her family to nearby
Concord.  There she spent the happiest  years of  her younger
life, even though she experienced the constant threat of pov-
erty.

     She counted as friends the children of Hawthorne and Em-
erson.  The Alcott was only a modest cottage,  but  the girls
made use of a neighboring barn to  perform  plays written  by
Louisa May.

     She was educated at home, and became a school teacher in
Boston. She saw her first story printed in a Boston newspaper
at the age of twenty.  Her  first  full-length book  appeared
two years later.

     Interrupting her career as a writer,she served as a nurse
in a Washington hospital during the Civil War.

     The thing that pleased her most about her writing, as  she
became more and more well known, was the fact that sales of her
books helped to make life more comfortable and less of a  daily
struggle for her parents in their later years.

     LITTLE WOMEN was published in 1869, and has gone on to be-
come one of America's classics.

     This copy of LITTLE WOMEN has been transposed to disk and
is supplied by  NEW WAVE PUBLISHERS,  2103  N. LIBERTY STREET,
PORTLAND, OR  97217-4971

UPLOADED FROM ELVIRA'S PINNACLE CLUB  286-5577  7 AM  - 10 PM  

                       

                             LITTLE WOMEN
                            
                              c 1869 by

                           Louisa May Alcott

                              CHAPTER ONE

     "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled 
Jo, lying on the rug.
    
     "It's so dreadful to be poor!"  sighed Meg,  looking down at 
her old dress.
    
      "I don't think it's fair for some girls to have plenty of 
pretty things, and other girls nothing at all,"  added little Amy,  
with an injured sniff.

     "We've got Father and Mother, and each other," said Beth 
contentedly from her corner.

     The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened  
at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly, "We 
haven't got Father, and shall not have him for a long time."  She 
didn't say "perhaps never,"  but each silently added it, thinking 
of Father far away, where the fighting was.

     Nobody spoke for a minute; then Meg said in an altered tone,
"You know the reason Mother proposed not having any presents this  
Christmas was because it is going to be a hard winter for everyone; 
and she thinks we ought not to spend money for  pleasure,  when  
our  men are suffering so in the army. We can't do much,but we can 
make our little sacrifices, and ought to do it gladly.  But I am 
afraid I don't"  And Meg shook her head,as she thought regretfully 
of all the pretty things she wanted.

     "But I don't think the little we should spend would  do any  
good. We've each got a dollar, and the army wouldn't be much helped  
by our giving that. I agree not to expect anything from Mother or 
you, but I do want to buy UNDINE AND SINTRAM for myself.  I've 
wanted it so long," said Jo, who was a bookworm.