Page 69 - Lavender-B-4

‘Funny angels, in woollen hoods and red mittens,’ said I; and they all
laughed.

Then we fell to work, and in fifteen minutes, it

really did seem as if fairies had been at work there.
How have you
Papa made a splendid fire in the old fireplace and helped someone
Let’s connect
stopped up the broken window with his own hat in need?
and coat. Mamma set the shivering children round
the fire, and wrapped the poor woman in warm

things. Betsey and the rest of us spread the table, and fed the
starving little ones. ‘Das ist gute!’ ‘Oh, nice!’ ‘Der angel—Kinder!’ cried

the poor things as they ate and smiled and basked in the warm blaze.
We had never been called ‘angel-children’ before, and we thought it

very charming, especially I who had often been told I was ‘a regular
Sancho’. What fun it was! Papa, with a towel for an apron, fed the

smallest child; mamma dressed the poor little new-born baby as
tenderly as if it had been her own. Betsy gave the mother gruel and
tea, and comforted her with assurance of better days for all. Nan,

Lu, Beth, and May flew about among the seven children, talking and
laughing and trying to understand their funny, broken English. It was

a very happy breakfast, though we didn’t get any of it; and when we
came away, leaving them all so comfortable, and promising to bring

clothes and food by and by, I think there were not in all the hungry
little girls who gave away their breakfast, and contented themselves

with a bit of bread and an apple of New Year’s day.
basked: sat and enjoyed
warmth
Cousin Tribulation assurance: a promise

—Louisa May Alcott

About the author
Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet. She is best known as the author of the
novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels, Little Men and Jo’s Boys. Alcott’s books for younger readers have attained perpetual
popularity, and the more recent republication of some of her more obscure works has renewed critical interest in her adult
fiction, such as A Modern Mephistopheles (1877).

69