Work: A Story of Experience

AUTHOR OF “LITTLE WOMEN,” “LITTLE MEN,” “AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL,” “HOSPITAL SKETCHES,” ETC.

“An endless significance lies in work; in idleness alone is there perpetual despair.”—CARLYLE.
BOSTON:
1901.
TO MY MOTHER, WHOSE LIFE HAS BEEN A LONG LABOR OF LOVE, THIS BOOK IS GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED
BY HER DAUGHTER.

CHRISTIE.
“Aunt Betsey, there’s going to be a new Declaration of Independence.”
“Bless and save us, what do you mean, child?” And the startled old lady precipitated a pie into the oven with destructive haste.
“I mean that, being of age, I’m going to take care of myself, and not be a burden any longer. Uncle wishes me out of the way; thinks I ought to go, and, sooner or later, will tell me so. I don’t intend to wait for that, but, like the people in fairy tales, travel away into the world and seek my fortune. I know I can find it.”