ALCOTT, LOUISA MAY. 



ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



published in " Gleason's Pictorial " a romantic 

 story, for which she received five dollars. Mr. 

 Alcott never achieved worldly success, and, -as 

 the family were in straitened circumstances 

 about this time, she engaged in teaching in 

 Boston, where she took a "little trunk filled 

 with the plainest clothes of her own making 

 and twenty dollars that she had earned in 



LOUISA MAY ALCOTT. 



writing." At one time she aspired to become 

 an actress, and had perfected her arrangements 

 for a first appearance, but was prevented by 

 her friends. She occasionally appeared in 

 amateur performances, and wrote a farce en- 

 titled "Ned Batchelder's Adventures," which 

 was produced at the Howard Athenaeum. She 

 also wrote a romantic drama, "The Rival 

 Prima Donna," the manuscript of which she 

 recalled and destroyed on hearing of dissension 

 among the actors regarding the arrangement 

 of the cast. In December, 1862, she entered 

 into Government service as a hospital nurse, 

 and was stationed in the Georgetown Hospital, 

 near Washington, D. C., until prostrated by 

 typhoid fever, from the effects of which she 

 never recovered. In 1865 she visited Europe 

 as a traveling-companion, and soon after her 

 return to Boston published " Little Women," 

 which pictured her home life, and brought her 

 fame and fortune. This was received with 

 such favor that when " Little Men " was issued 

 the publishers received advance orders for 50,- 

 000 copies. Miss Alcott addressed herself to 

 children, and no author's name is more endeared 

 to the young than hers. Although there is 

 little in her writing that is not drawn from 

 personal experience, this is so colored by her 

 imagination, and so strong through her sympa- 

 thy with life, that her books represent the 

 universal world of childhood and youth. But 

 while they are characterized by humor, cheer- 

 fulness, good morals, and natural action, their 

 healthfulness may be somewhat questionable 

 on account of the sentimentality that is woven 



into her work and breaks the natural grace 

 of childhood by introducing the romantic ele- 

 ment, and a hint of self-importance and inde- 

 pendence that tends to create a restless and 

 rebellious spirit. She devoted herself to the 

 care of her father, and in "death they were 

 not divided." The sale of " Little Women " has 

 reached 250,000 ; that of all her works together, 

 over 800,000. Her publications are : "Flower- 

 Fables " (Boston, 1855) ; " The Rose Family " 

 (1864); "Moods" (1805; revised ed., 1881); 

 "Little Women" (1868); "Hospital Sketches"' 

 (1869); "An Old-Fashioned Girl" (1869); 

 "Little Men" (1871); "Aunt Jo's Scrap- 

 Bag." a series containing " Cupid and Chow- 

 Chow," "My Girls," "Jimmy's Cruise in the 

 Pinafore," and "An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiv- 

 ing" (1871-'82); "Work, a Story of Experi- 

 ence" (1873); "Eight Cousins "(1874); "Rose 

 in Bloom" (1876); "Silver Pitchers" (1876); 

 "Under the Lilacs" (1878); "Jack and Jill" 

 (1880); "Proverb Stories" (1882); " Spin- 

 ning-Wheel Stories" (1884); and the first of 

 a new series, " Lulu's Library " (1885). 



AXGLICAJi CHURCHES. General Statistics. The 

 "Year-Book" of the Church of England for 

 1888 shows that the gross amount of money 

 raised voluntarily and expended in 1886 on 

 the building and restoration of churches, the 

 endowment of benefices, the erection of par- 

 sonages, and the provision of burial grounds, 

 while it was considerably less than in 1884, 

 exceeded 1,000,000; and of this sum 53,000 

 were raised in the four Welsh dioceses. The 

 details of this particular branch of church ef- 

 fort as carried out at Bristol and Plymouth 

 are recorded for the first time in the present 

 volume. They show that while the population 

 of Bristol has increased by nearly 55 per cent, 

 the net gain in church accommodation has 

 been 70 per cent., while the whole expendi- 

 ture upon church extension has been more 

 than 500,000. A similar wor.k has been go- 

 ing on in the three towns of Plymouth, Devon- 

 port, and Stonehouse,"at a gross expenditure of 

 131,000. Nearly 500,000 (445,398) were 

 raised during twelve years for founding the 

 six new sees of Truro, St. Albans, Liverpool, 

 Southwell, and Wakefield; 50,000 in six years 

 to complete the Bishop of Rochester's "ten 

 churches scheme." The " Universities and 

 Public Schools Missions" for the supply of des- 

 titute places in the large towns and parochial 

 missions for the laity have increased steadily. 

 Activity in work for the promotion of temper- 

 ance, for the rescue of the victims of vice, and 

 for reform, has gone on with growing activity. 

 The statistics of ordinations show that during 

 fourteen years 10,020 persons had been admit- 

 ted to the order of deacons ; and of these ad- 

 missions, the annual average for the former 

 half of the period was 660, and for the latter half, 

 770. The statistics of confirmations show that 

 while the average number annually for the nine 

 years ending with 1883 was 166,000, the aver- 

 age for the succeeding three years was nearly 



