nocowardsoul (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nocowardsoul) wrote2018-10-22 10:27 am
nocowardsoul) wrote2018-10-22 10:27 am
Entry tags:
Under the Lilacs (1878)
In 1877, shortly after the publication of A Modern Mephistopheles, LMA and Anna bought the Thoreau House for $4,500. She wrote Under the Lilacs there while nursing her mother until her death in November. St. Nicolas magazine paid her $3000 for it, as opposed to the mere $600 she got for the anonymous AMM. While working on it she wrote to Mary Mapes Dodge, the editor, 'I am daily waiting with anxiety for an illumination of some sort as my plot is very vague so far & though I dont approve of "sensations" in childrens books, one must have a certain thread on which to string the small events which make up the true sort of child life.'
Chapter 1: A Mysterious Dog
Opens with a nice description of a birthday for a doll that occurs on the porch of an empty house. The doll mothers are Bab Moss, 11, and Betty Moss, 10. They made a cake and some weak tea because their mother says strong tea isn't good for children.
Their mother keeps the lodge and they're excited to see part of it in a day or two. Betty wants to see the library; Bab wants to see the spinning-wheel and play in the coach-house. They go fetch some water and when they get back the carefully arranged dolls are topsy-turvy and the cake is gone.
"It was that Sally! She said she'd pay me for slapping her when she pinched little Mary Ann, and now she has,” exclaims Bab in an establishing character moment. But they find a white poodle who does some tricks. And the cake isn't gone; it's just been moved.
The Kenwigses referenced are from Nicholas Nickleby.
Chapter 2: Where They Found His Master
While eating the cake they hear a sneeze but can't figure out where it came from, and they find two roses left for them. On Monday they find the other neighborhood kids saw the dog around. The boys and girls have afternoon recess (what a jarringly modern phrase) at different times. The dog appears, looking starved, so they feed him.
After school they visit the coach-house and find Ben there.
Chapter 3: Ben
In Ben's place I would have ran away as fast as my legs could carry me, but he's too tired from his travelling. Mrs. Moss takes him (12) and Sancho back to her house. The girls are impressed when he juggles plates and cups. Ah-ha, says Mrs. Moss, he ran away from the circus.
Chapter 4: His Story
"Why, my father was the 'Wild Hunter of the Plains.' Didn't you ever see or hear of him?" said Ben, as if surprised at her ignorance.
Ben describes his previous life, including the fact that his stage name was Adolphus. His father argued with the ringmaster and left for New York, saying he'd send for Ben later. Needless to say, that didn't happen, and when Ben went to New York he was told that his father went out west.
Chapter 5: Ben Gets a Place
Mrs. Moss takes Ben to Squire Morris, who hires him to drive cows.
Here a red-headed Irishman came to the door, and stood eying the boy with small favor while the Squire gave his orders. "Pat, this lad wants work. He's to take the cows and go for them. Give him any light jobs you have, and let me know if he's good for any thing."
"Yis, your honor. Come out o' this, b'y, till I show ye the bastes," responded Pat; and, with a hasty good-by to Mrs. Moss, Ben followed his new leader, sorely tempted to play some naughty trick upon him in return for his ungracious reception.
But in a moment he forgot that Pat existed, for in the yard stood the Duke of Wellington, so named in honor of his Roman nose. If Ben had known any thing about Shakespeare, he would have cried, "A horse, a horse! my kingdom for a horse!" for the feeling was in his heart, and he ran up to the stately animal without a fear.
Chapter 6: A Circulating Library
I don't know what accent Ben is meant to have, but I don't quite believe his grammar is realistic. It's not that he has good grammer, it's that he has unrealistically bad grammer.
Ben asks the girls about a page from a history book he found on the ground. Bab tells him it's Columbus arriving at San Salvador. They work out that Ben can read the girls' books while the cows are eating and leave them in a tree by the school. Clever kids.
Chapter 7: New Friends Trot In
They “play school” whenever they can with Mrs. Moss's approval. It doesn't prevent Ben, faced with a summer full of strawberry picking and haying, from thinking about running away.
A young lady rides a mare past him, and he takes a stone out of its foot. He and Celia hit it off right away, and he gives her directions. It turns out she owns the empty house and she, her brother, and a flock of animals are moving in.
Chapter 8: Miss Celia's Man
The kids admire the phaeton, Chevalita the horse, the donkey, the rabbits, and the peacocks. Celia gives them permission to continue playing on her porch and invites them to tea. She lets Ben drive the phaeton. The author finally makes an intrusion.
It takes so little to make a child happy, it is a pity grown people do not oftener remember it and scatter little bits of pleasure before the small people, as they throw crumbs to the hungry sparrows. Miss Celia knew the boy was pleased, but he had no words in which to express his gratitude for the great contentment she had given him. He could only beam at all he met, smile when the floating ends of the gray veil blew against his face, and long in his heart to give the new friend a boyish hug, as he used to do his dear 'Melia when she was very good to him.
Then she hires Ben as companion to Thornton, 14, who is recovering from some illness. Interesting, I don't recall ever reading anything with a boy as a companion.
Chapter 9: A Happy Tea
Now, Ben had heard what the other boy said, and made up his mind that he shouldn't like him; and Thorny had decided beforehand that he wouldn't play with a tramp, even if he cut capers; so both looked decidedly cool and indifferent when Miss Celia introduced them. But Sancho had better manners and no foolish pride; he, therefore, set them a good example by approaching the chair, with his tail waving like a flag of truce, and politely presented his ruffled paw for a hearty shake.
Thornton is charmed. They have sandwiches and cake and Ben tells them circus stories.
A little boy walks up to the yard, declaring “I have come to see the peacocks.” His name is Alfred Tennyson Barlow and he lives up to it – he recites a poem he made up. It was written by 6-year-old Francis Sanborn, the son of abolitionist and man of letters Franklin Sanborn, who was one of Lizzy Alcott's pallbearers.
After he heads home, Celia brings out some toys and Ben shows them that Sancho can spell his name.
Chapter 10: A Heavy Trouble
Celia receives a letter that makes her sad, but nobody notices it. The girls go home, Betty taking a doll with sleep eyes. Ben stays behind so she can tell him the news: his father died out West.
Chapter 11: Sunday
Celia and Thorny take Ben to church. The minister preaches “a long and somewhat dull sermon,” a phrase that describes my feelings about this chapter.
After church, Ben and Thornton hang out by the pine trees. Ben learns a poem that Celia/LMA wrote when she was young, My Kingdom.
Chapter 12: Good Times
Good times include:
gardening (Ben)
stamp collecting (Thorny)
driving about town (Ben, Thorny, and Celia)
making flags from various countries (Ben, Bab, Betty)
picnics in various places around the countryside (Celia, Thorny, Ben)
Thorny studies botany and Ben joins him.
Chapter 13: Somebody Runs Away
"' School is done, Now we'll have fun," Sung Bab and Betty, slamming down their books as if they never meant to take them up again, when they came home on the last day of June. Wow, they get out late.
More picnics for the girls, baseball for the boys with Thorny as empire. When Independence Day comes around there are too many boys missing to have a game, then they hear there's a circus in the next town over. Bab wants to come but they don't want her to. She doesn't take no for an answer. She and Sancho follow them in secret. It's only four miles, about an hour's walk.
Chapter 14: Somebody Gets Lost
Sancho wants to join the performing dogs; Ben prevents him. Bab decides she wants to be an acrobat like the girls she sees. Just as the show ends, a thunderstorm comes. When the show ends it's pouring rain. In the confusion Bab loses Sancho and Ben loses his temper at her.
A more unhappy little lass is seldom to be found than Bab was, as she pattered after him, splashing recklessly through the puddles, and getting as wet and muddy as possible, as a sort of penance for her sins. For a mile or two she trudged stoutly along, while Ben marched before in solemn silence, which soon became both impressive and oppressive because so unusual, and such a proof of his deep displeasure. Penitent Bab longed for just one word, one sign of relenting; and when none came, she began to wonder how she could possibly bear it if he kept his dreadful threat and did not speak to her for a whole year.
Who do they pass on the way? Ben's old enemy Pat. The good Squire sent him, and Ben and Bab accept the ride.
Chapter 15: Ben's Ride
Sancho fails to appear and Ben is miserable.
One day Lita arrives home without Celia and he takes the horse to find her. He finds her in a field with a broken arm. He and Lita hurry to the next town because its doctor is better at setting bones. They ride so fast everyone stares at them.
Chapter 16: Detective Thornton
The four kids fuss over her, Ben and Thornton reading out loud while the girls sew.
Celia asks Thorny what's up with Ben; he says he's still upset over Sancho. She tells him that some money is missing from her desk and Thorny says he saw Ben hide something in his desk. So they plant two dollars to catch the thief.
Thorny was very funny in the unnecessary mystery and fuss he made; his affectation of careless indifference to Ben's movements and his clumsy attempts to watch every one of them; his dodgings up and down stairs, ostentatious clanking of keys, and the elaborate traps he set to catch his thief, such as throwing his ball in at the dressing-room window and sending Ben up the tree to get it, which he did, thereby proving beyond a doubt that he alone could have taken the money, Thorny thought. Another deep discovery was, that the old drawer was so shrunken that the lock could be pressed down by slipping a knife-blade between the hasp and socket.
When they ask Ben about it he confesses he's been hiding . . . a kitty the Squire gave him. Celia empties her desk and finds in the back some baby mice.
Chapter 17: Betty's Bravery
Betty and Thorny go out of town to get Ben a present (cufflinks that look like Sancho) and get Thorny's tooth filled. With the leftover money he buys her Walter Crane's Bluebeard book.
Betty spies a commotion over what one kid says is a mad dog, while a second boy claims mad dogs don't drink. When she gets a look at the brown dog with his tail cut off, he seems to recognize her.
With a confused idea that the unknown Jud had gone for a gun to shoot Sanch, Betty gave a desperate pull at the latch and ran into the yard, bent on saving her friend. That it was a friend there could be no further question; for, though the creature rushed at her as if about to devour her at a mouthful, it was only to roll ecstatically at her feet, lick her hands, and gaze into her face, trying to pant out the welcome which he could not utter. An older and more prudent person would have waited to make sure before venturing in; but confiding Betty knew little of the danger which she might have run; her heart spoke more quickly than her head, and, not stopping to have the truth proved, she took the brown dog on trust, and found it was indeed dear Sanch.
She and Thorny bring him home and the reunion of boy and dog is actually quite adorable.
Chapter 18: Bows and Arrows
Ben teaches Sancho to spell Betty's name. Bab is jealous of the attention her sister is getting.
Celia reads them Maria Edgeworth's "Waste not Want not; or, Two Strings to your Bow." Soon the kids have dug out her old archery set. The boys of the village start a club named after William Tell. Celia and the girls start one called the Victoria, after a picture of Queen Victoria shooting.
The kids are so pleased at having a new story that Celia sends a bunch of books to the town's library.
Chapter 19: Speaking Pieces
September comes and Ben starts school. He gets laughed at a few times for not knowing things, and one boy named Sam chases him up a tree. Ben jumps out of the tree onto a passing wagon.
Recitation day at school. Ben does “John Gilpin” by William Cooper. Bab does Pussy's Class. “Betty bashfully murmurred "Little White Lily," swaying to and fro as regularly as if in no other way could the rhymes be ground out of her memory.” Celia does “Mabel on Midsummer's Day.”
Thorny has Sancho walk into the school while he sings Benny had a little dog.
Chapter 20: Ben's Birthday
Mrs. Moss bakes him a cake and the girls knit him some mittens. All the kids come for an archery contest.
Such a merry march all about the place, out at the Lodge gate, up and down the avenue, along the winding paths, till they halted in the orchard, where the target stood, and seats were placed for the archers while they waited for their turns. Various rules and regulations were discussed, and then the fun began. Miss Celia had insisted that the girls should be invited to shoot with the boys; and the lads consented without much concern, whispering to one another with condescending shrugs, "Let 'em try, if they like; they can't do any thing."
But they find that Bab and Sally shoot very well. When everyone else is eliminated Bab and Ben remain. She tells Celia that she wants to win but Ben will be hurt. And Celia says, "Losing a prize sometimes makes one happier than gaining it. You have proved that you could do better than most of them; so, if you do not beat, you may still feel proud." Um, okay, Celia. I guess it's nice that you aren't entirely perfect? So Bab misses on purpose, then Ben shoots.
"A tie! a tie!" cried the girls, as a general rush took place toward the target.
"No, Ben's is nearest. Ben's beat! Hooray!” shouted the boys, throwing up their hats. There was only a hair's-breadth difference, and Bab could honestly have disputed the decision; but she did not, though for an instant she could not help wishing that the cry had been "Bab's beat! Hurrah!" it sounded so pleasant. Then she saw Ben's beaming face, Thorny's intense relief, and caught the look Miss Celia sent her over the heads of the boys, and decided, with a sudden warm glow all over her little face, that losing a prize did sometimes make one happier than winning it.
Ben offers her the rosette, calling it “a girl's thing.” She first says no but he insists.
Chapter 21: Cupid's Last Appearance
Celia and Thorny put on a potato puppet show with some awful fake Chinese. The kids act out Bluebeard and then Little Red Riding Hood with Sancho as the wolf. Ben and Lita show off their trick riding, impressing most of the kids who've never seen such an act before.
Ben hugs Celia for giving him such a happy birthday, awww.
Chapter 22: A Boy's Bargain
The boys and girls have a fight over a wood-pile, the boys building it up in front of a shed each day and the girls taking it down so they can play in the shed. I have no doubt this is based on a real life incident.
The boys play drums to signal the completion of the pile. Sam heads to the marsh to find some drumsticks. He tries hopping from one piece of grass to another, but he lands in the mud (which happened to my sister's friend at our marsh) and has to wade to a stump. He shouts for help and when he gets a reply “of all possible boys, who should it be but Ben, the last person in the world whom he would like to have see him in his present pitiful plight.”
Sam asks Ben not to tell anyone and Ben says yes if he promises to stop teasing Ben, Bab, and Betty.
Celia receives a letter from the young minister she's been engaged to. She and Thorny met George in Switzerland on Mount St. Bernard. The two of them leave for the wedding in New York.
Chapter 23: Somebody Comes
Bab and Betty play in the yard, waiting for Ben to return from picking nuts. A man comes and start talking to them. "Betty thought you was a tramp, but I wasn't afraid. I like tramps ever since Ben came," Bab says, and he asks about Ben and he's obviously Ben's father but they don't figure it out.
"What's the matter?" called Ben, coming up briskly, with a strong grip of his stout stick. There was no need of any answer, for, as he came into the shadow, he saw the man, and stood looking at him as if he were a ghost.
"It's father, Benny; don't you know me?" asked the man, with an odd sort of choke in his voice, as he thrust the dog away, and held out both hands to the boy. Down dropped the nuts, and crying, "Oh, Daddy, Daddy!" Ben cast himself into the arms of the shabby velveteen coat, while poor Sanch tore round them in distracted circles, barking wildly, as if that was the only way in which he could vent his rapture.
Mrs. Moss (who has been absent for the past few chapters) has him come in for supper. Ben Sr. tells how he was kicked in the head by a horse in California. He doesn't want to go back to the circus. Mrs. Moss suggests he get a job at the boarding-stable.
The narrator informs us that the two get married a year from now.
Chapter 24: The Great Gate is Opened
Celia sends a letter asking Ben to open the house for “the new master,” so they clean it up, oil the gate, put up all the flags, etc.
Bab makes a fire but “the chimney began to rumble ominously, sparks to fly out at the top, and soot and swallows' nests to come tumbling down upon the hearth. Then, scared at what she had done, the little mischief-maker hastily buried her fire, swept up the rubbish, and ran off, thinking no one would discover her prank if she never told.”
Except Ben sees smoke and he and father hurry up to the roof with wet blankets.
Mrs. Moss is the first to greet Celia, Thorny, and George and give them the good news. Celia thanks Ben Sr. for saving her house and he's like no, thank YOU for taking care of my boy.
The closed gate where the lonely little wanderer once lay was always to stand open now, and the path where children played before was free to all comers, for a hospitable welcome henceforth awaited rich and poor, young and old, sad and gay, Under the Lilacs.
"The story is full of action , and though is main interest centres on Benny, girl readers will find it as enjoyable as if it had been written especially for their enjoyment."
- Boston Evening Transcript
"The telling of the story is the wonderful thing about the book; and this is inimitable."
- Zion's Herald
"The children are thoroughly childlike and healthy-minded, as all Miss Alcott's children are; though, of course, to an English mind, the social relations of the characters are somewhat strange."
- The Saturday Review of Politics, Science, Literature, and Art
(If there were any critical reviews they appear on pages not available on Google Books. I wish the collection of reviews was less than forty dollars.)
Next: Diana and Persis, an unfinished adult novel.
Chapter 1: A Mysterious Dog
Opens with a nice description of a birthday for a doll that occurs on the porch of an empty house. The doll mothers are Bab Moss, 11, and Betty Moss, 10. They made a cake and some weak tea because their mother says strong tea isn't good for children.
Their mother keeps the lodge and they're excited to see part of it in a day or two. Betty wants to see the library; Bab wants to see the spinning-wheel and play in the coach-house. They go fetch some water and when they get back the carefully arranged dolls are topsy-turvy and the cake is gone.
"It was that Sally! She said she'd pay me for slapping her when she pinched little Mary Ann, and now she has,” exclaims Bab in an establishing character moment. But they find a white poodle who does some tricks. And the cake isn't gone; it's just been moved.
The Kenwigses referenced are from Nicholas Nickleby.
Chapter 2: Where They Found His Master
While eating the cake they hear a sneeze but can't figure out where it came from, and they find two roses left for them. On Monday they find the other neighborhood kids saw the dog around. The boys and girls have afternoon recess (what a jarringly modern phrase) at different times. The dog appears, looking starved, so they feed him.
After school they visit the coach-house and find Ben there.
Chapter 3: Ben
In Ben's place I would have ran away as fast as my legs could carry me, but he's too tired from his travelling. Mrs. Moss takes him (12) and Sancho back to her house. The girls are impressed when he juggles plates and cups. Ah-ha, says Mrs. Moss, he ran away from the circus.
Chapter 4: His Story
"Why, my father was the 'Wild Hunter of the Plains.' Didn't you ever see or hear of him?" said Ben, as if surprised at her ignorance.
Ben describes his previous life, including the fact that his stage name was Adolphus. His father argued with the ringmaster and left for New York, saying he'd send for Ben later. Needless to say, that didn't happen, and when Ben went to New York he was told that his father went out west.
Chapter 5: Ben Gets a Place
Mrs. Moss takes Ben to Squire Morris, who hires him to drive cows.
Here a red-headed Irishman came to the door, and stood eying the boy with small favor while the Squire gave his orders. "Pat, this lad wants work. He's to take the cows and go for them. Give him any light jobs you have, and let me know if he's good for any thing."
"Yis, your honor. Come out o' this, b'y, till I show ye the bastes," responded Pat; and, with a hasty good-by to Mrs. Moss, Ben followed his new leader, sorely tempted to play some naughty trick upon him in return for his ungracious reception.
But in a moment he forgot that Pat existed, for in the yard stood the Duke of Wellington, so named in honor of his Roman nose. If Ben had known any thing about Shakespeare, he would have cried, "A horse, a horse! my kingdom for a horse!" for the feeling was in his heart, and he ran up to the stately animal without a fear.
Chapter 6: A Circulating Library
I don't know what accent Ben is meant to have, but I don't quite believe his grammar is realistic. It's not that he has good grammer, it's that he has unrealistically bad grammer.
Ben asks the girls about a page from a history book he found on the ground. Bab tells him it's Columbus arriving at San Salvador. They work out that Ben can read the girls' books while the cows are eating and leave them in a tree by the school. Clever kids.
Chapter 7: New Friends Trot In
They “play school” whenever they can with Mrs. Moss's approval. It doesn't prevent Ben, faced with a summer full of strawberry picking and haying, from thinking about running away.
A young lady rides a mare past him, and he takes a stone out of its foot. He and Celia hit it off right away, and he gives her directions. It turns out she owns the empty house and she, her brother, and a flock of animals are moving in.
Chapter 8: Miss Celia's Man
The kids admire the phaeton, Chevalita the horse, the donkey, the rabbits, and the peacocks. Celia gives them permission to continue playing on her porch and invites them to tea. She lets Ben drive the phaeton. The author finally makes an intrusion.
It takes so little to make a child happy, it is a pity grown people do not oftener remember it and scatter little bits of pleasure before the small people, as they throw crumbs to the hungry sparrows. Miss Celia knew the boy was pleased, but he had no words in which to express his gratitude for the great contentment she had given him. He could only beam at all he met, smile when the floating ends of the gray veil blew against his face, and long in his heart to give the new friend a boyish hug, as he used to do his dear 'Melia when she was very good to him.
Then she hires Ben as companion to Thornton, 14, who is recovering from some illness. Interesting, I don't recall ever reading anything with a boy as a companion.
Chapter 9: A Happy Tea
Now, Ben had heard what the other boy said, and made up his mind that he shouldn't like him; and Thorny had decided beforehand that he wouldn't play with a tramp, even if he cut capers; so both looked decidedly cool and indifferent when Miss Celia introduced them. But Sancho had better manners and no foolish pride; he, therefore, set them a good example by approaching the chair, with his tail waving like a flag of truce, and politely presented his ruffled paw for a hearty shake.
Thornton is charmed. They have sandwiches and cake and Ben tells them circus stories.
A little boy walks up to the yard, declaring “I have come to see the peacocks.” His name is Alfred Tennyson Barlow and he lives up to it – he recites a poem he made up. It was written by 6-year-old Francis Sanborn, the son of abolitionist and man of letters Franklin Sanborn, who was one of Lizzy Alcott's pallbearers.
After he heads home, Celia brings out some toys and Ben shows them that Sancho can spell his name.
Chapter 10: A Heavy Trouble
Celia receives a letter that makes her sad, but nobody notices it. The girls go home, Betty taking a doll with sleep eyes. Ben stays behind so she can tell him the news: his father died out West.
Chapter 11: Sunday
Celia and Thorny take Ben to church. The minister preaches “a long and somewhat dull sermon,” a phrase that describes my feelings about this chapter.
After church, Ben and Thornton hang out by the pine trees. Ben learns a poem that Celia/LMA wrote when she was young, My Kingdom.
Chapter 12: Good Times
Good times include:
gardening (Ben)
stamp collecting (Thorny)
driving about town (Ben, Thorny, and Celia)
making flags from various countries (Ben, Bab, Betty)
picnics in various places around the countryside (Celia, Thorny, Ben)
Thorny studies botany and Ben joins him.
Chapter 13: Somebody Runs Away
"' School is done, Now we'll have fun," Sung Bab and Betty, slamming down their books as if they never meant to take them up again, when they came home on the last day of June. Wow, they get out late.
More picnics for the girls, baseball for the boys with Thorny as empire. When Independence Day comes around there are too many boys missing to have a game, then they hear there's a circus in the next town over. Bab wants to come but they don't want her to. She doesn't take no for an answer. She and Sancho follow them in secret. It's only four miles, about an hour's walk.
Chapter 14: Somebody Gets Lost
Sancho wants to join the performing dogs; Ben prevents him. Bab decides she wants to be an acrobat like the girls she sees. Just as the show ends, a thunderstorm comes. When the show ends it's pouring rain. In the confusion Bab loses Sancho and Ben loses his temper at her.
A more unhappy little lass is seldom to be found than Bab was, as she pattered after him, splashing recklessly through the puddles, and getting as wet and muddy as possible, as a sort of penance for her sins. For a mile or two she trudged stoutly along, while Ben marched before in solemn silence, which soon became both impressive and oppressive because so unusual, and such a proof of his deep displeasure. Penitent Bab longed for just one word, one sign of relenting; and when none came, she began to wonder how she could possibly bear it if he kept his dreadful threat and did not speak to her for a whole year.
Who do they pass on the way? Ben's old enemy Pat. The good Squire sent him, and Ben and Bab accept the ride.
Chapter 15: Ben's Ride
Sancho fails to appear and Ben is miserable.
One day Lita arrives home without Celia and he takes the horse to find her. He finds her in a field with a broken arm. He and Lita hurry to the next town because its doctor is better at setting bones. They ride so fast everyone stares at them.
Chapter 16: Detective Thornton
The four kids fuss over her, Ben and Thornton reading out loud while the girls sew.
Celia asks Thorny what's up with Ben; he says he's still upset over Sancho. She tells him that some money is missing from her desk and Thorny says he saw Ben hide something in his desk. So they plant two dollars to catch the thief.
Thorny was very funny in the unnecessary mystery and fuss he made; his affectation of careless indifference to Ben's movements and his clumsy attempts to watch every one of them; his dodgings up and down stairs, ostentatious clanking of keys, and the elaborate traps he set to catch his thief, such as throwing his ball in at the dressing-room window and sending Ben up the tree to get it, which he did, thereby proving beyond a doubt that he alone could have taken the money, Thorny thought. Another deep discovery was, that the old drawer was so shrunken that the lock could be pressed down by slipping a knife-blade between the hasp and socket.
When they ask Ben about it he confesses he's been hiding . . . a kitty the Squire gave him. Celia empties her desk and finds in the back some baby mice.
Chapter 17: Betty's Bravery
Betty and Thorny go out of town to get Ben a present (cufflinks that look like Sancho) and get Thorny's tooth filled. With the leftover money he buys her Walter Crane's Bluebeard book.
Betty spies a commotion over what one kid says is a mad dog, while a second boy claims mad dogs don't drink. When she gets a look at the brown dog with his tail cut off, he seems to recognize her.
With a confused idea that the unknown Jud had gone for a gun to shoot Sanch, Betty gave a desperate pull at the latch and ran into the yard, bent on saving her friend. That it was a friend there could be no further question; for, though the creature rushed at her as if about to devour her at a mouthful, it was only to roll ecstatically at her feet, lick her hands, and gaze into her face, trying to pant out the welcome which he could not utter. An older and more prudent person would have waited to make sure before venturing in; but confiding Betty knew little of the danger which she might have run; her heart spoke more quickly than her head, and, not stopping to have the truth proved, she took the brown dog on trust, and found it was indeed dear Sanch.
She and Thorny bring him home and the reunion of boy and dog is actually quite adorable.
Chapter 18: Bows and Arrows
Ben teaches Sancho to spell Betty's name. Bab is jealous of the attention her sister is getting.
Celia reads them Maria Edgeworth's "Waste not Want not; or, Two Strings to your Bow." Soon the kids have dug out her old archery set. The boys of the village start a club named after William Tell. Celia and the girls start one called the Victoria, after a picture of Queen Victoria shooting.
The kids are so pleased at having a new story that Celia sends a bunch of books to the town's library.
Chapter 19: Speaking Pieces
September comes and Ben starts school. He gets laughed at a few times for not knowing things, and one boy named Sam chases him up a tree. Ben jumps out of the tree onto a passing wagon.
Recitation day at school. Ben does “John Gilpin” by William Cooper. Bab does Pussy's Class. “Betty bashfully murmurred "Little White Lily," swaying to and fro as regularly as if in no other way could the rhymes be ground out of her memory.” Celia does “Mabel on Midsummer's Day.”
Thorny has Sancho walk into the school while he sings Benny had a little dog.
Chapter 20: Ben's Birthday
Mrs. Moss bakes him a cake and the girls knit him some mittens. All the kids come for an archery contest.
Such a merry march all about the place, out at the Lodge gate, up and down the avenue, along the winding paths, till they halted in the orchard, where the target stood, and seats were placed for the archers while they waited for their turns. Various rules and regulations were discussed, and then the fun began. Miss Celia had insisted that the girls should be invited to shoot with the boys; and the lads consented without much concern, whispering to one another with condescending shrugs, "Let 'em try, if they like; they can't do any thing."
But they find that Bab and Sally shoot very well. When everyone else is eliminated Bab and Ben remain. She tells Celia that she wants to win but Ben will be hurt. And Celia says, "Losing a prize sometimes makes one happier than gaining it. You have proved that you could do better than most of them; so, if you do not beat, you may still feel proud." Um, okay, Celia. I guess it's nice that you aren't entirely perfect? So Bab misses on purpose, then Ben shoots.
"A tie! a tie!" cried the girls, as a general rush took place toward the target.
"No, Ben's is nearest. Ben's beat! Hooray!” shouted the boys, throwing up their hats. There was only a hair's-breadth difference, and Bab could honestly have disputed the decision; but she did not, though for an instant she could not help wishing that the cry had been "Bab's beat! Hurrah!" it sounded so pleasant. Then she saw Ben's beaming face, Thorny's intense relief, and caught the look Miss Celia sent her over the heads of the boys, and decided, with a sudden warm glow all over her little face, that losing a prize did sometimes make one happier than winning it.
Ben offers her the rosette, calling it “a girl's thing.” She first says no but he insists.
Chapter 21: Cupid's Last Appearance
Celia and Thorny put on a potato puppet show with some awful fake Chinese. The kids act out Bluebeard and then Little Red Riding Hood with Sancho as the wolf. Ben and Lita show off their trick riding, impressing most of the kids who've never seen such an act before.
Ben hugs Celia for giving him such a happy birthday, awww.
Chapter 22: A Boy's Bargain
The boys and girls have a fight over a wood-pile, the boys building it up in front of a shed each day and the girls taking it down so they can play in the shed. I have no doubt this is based on a real life incident.
The boys play drums to signal the completion of the pile. Sam heads to the marsh to find some drumsticks. He tries hopping from one piece of grass to another, but he lands in the mud (which happened to my sister's friend at our marsh) and has to wade to a stump. He shouts for help and when he gets a reply “of all possible boys, who should it be but Ben, the last person in the world whom he would like to have see him in his present pitiful plight.”
Sam asks Ben not to tell anyone and Ben says yes if he promises to stop teasing Ben, Bab, and Betty.
Celia receives a letter from the young minister she's been engaged to. She and Thorny met George in Switzerland on Mount St. Bernard. The two of them leave for the wedding in New York.
Chapter 23: Somebody Comes
Bab and Betty play in the yard, waiting for Ben to return from picking nuts. A man comes and start talking to them. "Betty thought you was a tramp, but I wasn't afraid. I like tramps ever since Ben came," Bab says, and he asks about Ben and he's obviously Ben's father but they don't figure it out.
"What's the matter?" called Ben, coming up briskly, with a strong grip of his stout stick. There was no need of any answer, for, as he came into the shadow, he saw the man, and stood looking at him as if he were a ghost.
"It's father, Benny; don't you know me?" asked the man, with an odd sort of choke in his voice, as he thrust the dog away, and held out both hands to the boy. Down dropped the nuts, and crying, "Oh, Daddy, Daddy!" Ben cast himself into the arms of the shabby velveteen coat, while poor Sanch tore round them in distracted circles, barking wildly, as if that was the only way in which he could vent his rapture.
Mrs. Moss (who has been absent for the past few chapters) has him come in for supper. Ben Sr. tells how he was kicked in the head by a horse in California. He doesn't want to go back to the circus. Mrs. Moss suggests he get a job at the boarding-stable.
The narrator informs us that the two get married a year from now.
Chapter 24: The Great Gate is Opened
Celia sends a letter asking Ben to open the house for “the new master,” so they clean it up, oil the gate, put up all the flags, etc.
Bab makes a fire but “the chimney began to rumble ominously, sparks to fly out at the top, and soot and swallows' nests to come tumbling down upon the hearth. Then, scared at what she had done, the little mischief-maker hastily buried her fire, swept up the rubbish, and ran off, thinking no one would discover her prank if she never told.”
Except Ben sees smoke and he and father hurry up to the roof with wet blankets.
Mrs. Moss is the first to greet Celia, Thorny, and George and give them the good news. Celia thanks Ben Sr. for saving her house and he's like no, thank YOU for taking care of my boy.
The closed gate where the lonely little wanderer once lay was always to stand open now, and the path where children played before was free to all comers, for a hospitable welcome henceforth awaited rich and poor, young and old, sad and gay, Under the Lilacs.
"The story is full of action , and though is main interest centres on Benny, girl readers will find it as enjoyable as if it had been written especially for their enjoyment."
- Boston Evening Transcript
"The telling of the story is the wonderful thing about the book; and this is inimitable."
- Zion's Herald
"The children are thoroughly childlike and healthy-minded, as all Miss Alcott's children are; though, of course, to an English mind, the social relations of the characters are somewhat strange."
- The Saturday Review of Politics, Science, Literature, and Art
(If there were any critical reviews they appear on pages not available on Google Books. I wish the collection of reviews was less than forty dollars.)
Next: Diana and Persis, an unfinished adult novel.