LOUISA ALCOTT

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 12, 13 July 1935, Page 19

LOUISA ALCOTT

WELL-KNOWN AUTHORESS

, ''The .-story: of .Louisa .Alcptt is told very well by Cornelia Meigs," states an English writer in reference to a recent biography of the authoress.

"There are," states the reviewer, "at-

tractive illustrations showing Louisa at, different' ages, rather plain, but with expressive eyes, her, parents, some of the houses she lived in, including

interior views of Orchard House, in Concord, which is now a memorial exhibition called after her. This biography comes at a good moment, when 'Little Women' has foiuid a vast new public in the cinema.

"Bronson Alcott, philosopher, educa-

I tionist, and dreamer, is very kindly | treated by the biographer, and appears [as a most lovable and beloved character, although in earlier books one seems to remember that he was considered rather a wearisome burden to his devoted daughter as time went on and her responsibilities increased. Certainly the rueful story of his social experiments here recorded is touching and delightful. Once he came to England, where he disagreed with Carlyle in a heated argument, and returned with a group of young men to share his fireside and his system of living. He died two days before Louisa.

"Her life of hard work was spiced with laughter, affection, the friendship of wise and interesting men and women, and a tremendous satisfaction in being able to provide for those dependent upon her. Before writing became lfer profession she experimented with teaching, companioning an old lady, slaving in a grim household at menial tasks, and nursing—until typhoid fever interrupted her activi-

ties—in Washington during the Civil War. Apparently she liked young men but never sought to be married, an,d got happily through life without regrets for what she had missed. She was a devoted aunt to her two nephews, and adopted her sister May's daughter Lulu after May's death in England when the child was an infant.

"Her 'Hospital Sketches,' published when she was laid low with fever and too ill to appreciate their success, were the first things she wrote to make a wide appeal. They appeared in 1863, and five years later, in response to her publisher, who demanded a book for girls, she wrote 'Little Women' and made her name. But from the time she scribbled romances to be acted in

the barn her pen was uncommonly prolific. Devotees of 'Little Women' and tho rest of the March series will delight in tracing what is real in the books and where there are slight differences between tho Alcotts and the Marches."

line of Geisha girl kimonos, simple Coolie coats. These, are > even endorsed for evening, and a fine example was seen with a mass of poppies at thethroat, topping a brilliant, poppy-print-ed dress with a fan train bordered in scarlet. ACCESSORIES OF THE MODE. The accessories of the mode this season are both original and interesting: the wings of birds, the fins of fish, the fleet lines of aeroplanes and sailboats, have also influenced the fashions. Everywhere you see motion. Dead-still clothes appear dull to us now. Many are the back decorations: wings fly out from, shoulder blades, volants soar from hips, sometimes even trains swish along the floor. What used to be called a "stormy-weather" silhouette has been subdued "into a fish or bird outline. From many of the short-jacketed, suits, .little, fins or frail wings fly out from, the-back. And there's nothing - freakish about them, they seem to be. a-perfect balance for the jutting-out reyers. Other interesting accessories are scarves that go round the head in the evening, i.i addition to little feminine concerts, such as vanity-cases attached to bracelets, and cunning clips and earrings. There are vivid sashes of the Japanese order, and bamboo buttons and bamboo coloured accessories, gay bordered tunics and hems, narrow tubular skirts with slits, and Japanese wingdraperies, instead of sleeves. And such prints!. Eiots of blossoms, wistaria, lilacs, poppies, hollyhocks, brilliant roses, and. marigolds. FOR, THE SEASIDE. For the seaside I would like to mention a new,bathing suit, a hand-knitted maillot, so: cleverly designed that it