Preface

PINK AND WHITE TYRANNY.

"Make their acquaintance; for Amy will be found delightful, Beth very lovely, Meg beautiful, and Jo splendid!"— The Catholic World.

LITTLE WOMEN. By Louisa M. Alcott. In Two Parts. Price of each $1.50.

"Simply one of the most charming little books that have fallen into our hands for many a day. The re is just enough of sadness in it to make it true to life, while it is so full of honest work and whole-souled fun, paints so lively a picture of a home in which contentment, energy, high spirits, and real goodness make up for the lack of money, that it will do good wherever it finds its way. Few will read it without lasting profit."— Hartford Courant.

"Little Women. By Louisa M. Alcott. We regard these volumes as two of the most fascinating that ever came into a household. Old and young read them with the same eagerness. Lifelike in all their delineations of time, place, and character, they are not only intensely interesting, but full of a cheerful morality, that makes them healthy reading for both fireside and the Sunday school. We think we love"Jo"a little better than all the rest, her genius is so happy tempered with affection."— The Guiding Star.

The following verbatim copy of a letter from a"little woman"is a specimen of many which enthusiasm for her book has dictated to the author of"Little Women:"—

—— March 12, 1870.

Dear Jo, or Miss Alcott,—We have all been reading"Little Women,"and we liked it so much I could not help wanting to write to you. We think you are perfectly splendid; I like you better every time I read it. We were all so disappointed about your not marrying Laurie; I cried over that part,—I could not help it. We all liked Laurie ever so much, and almost killed ourselves laughing over the funny things you and he said.

We are six sisters and two brothers; and there were so many things in"Little Women"that seemed so natural, especially selling the rags.

Eddie is the oldest; then there is Annie (our Meg), then Nelly (that's me), May and Milly (our Beths), Rosie, Rollie, and dear little Carrie (the baby). Eddie goes away to school, and when he comes home for the holidays we have lots of fun, playing cricket, croquet, base ball, and every thing. If you ever want to play any of those games, just come to our house, and you will find plenty children to play with you.

If you ever come to ——, I do wish you would come and see us,—we would like it so much.

I have named my doll after you, and I hope she will try and deserve it.

I do wish you would send me a picture of you. I hope your health is better, and you are having a nice time.

If you write to me, please direct —— Ill. All the children send their love.

With ever so much love, from your affectionate friend,

Nelly.

Mailed to any address, postpaid, on receipt of the advertised price.

ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers,

Boston.

AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL. By Louisa M. Alcott. With Illustrations. Price $1.50.

"Miss Alcott has a faculty of entering into the lives and feelings of children that is conspicuously wanting in most writers who address them; and to this cause, to the consciousness among her readers that they are hearing about people like themselves, instead of abstract qualities labelled with names, the popularity of her books is due. Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy are friends in every nursery and schoolroom, and even in the parlor and office they are not unknown; for a good story is interesting to older folks as well, and Miss Alcott carries on her children to manhood and womanhood, and leaves them only on the wedding-day."— Mrs. Sarah J. Hale in Godey's Ladies'Book.

"We are glad to see that Miss Alcott is becoming naturalized among us as a writer, and cannot help congratulating ourselves on having done something to bring about the result. The author of'Little Women'is so manifestly on the side of all that is'lovely, pure, and of good report'in the life of women, and writes with such genuine power and humor, and with such a tender charity and sympathy, that we hail her books with no common pleasure.'An Old-Fashioned Girl'is a protest from the other side of the Atlantic against the manners of the creature which we know on this by the name of'the Girl of the Period;'but the attack is delivered with delicacy as well as force."— The London Spectator.

"A charming little book, brimful of the good qualities of intellect and heart which made'Little Women'so successful. The'Old-Fashioned Girl'carries with it a teaching specially needed at the present day, and we are glad to know it is even already a decided and great success."— New York Independent.

"Miss Alcott's new story deserves quite as great a success as her famous"Little Women,"and we dare say will secure it. She has written a book which child and parent alike ought to read, for it is neither above the comprehension of the one, nor below the taste of the other. Her boys and girls are so fresh, hearty, and natural, the incidents of her story are so true to life, and the tone is so thoroughly healthy, that a chapter of the'Old-Fashioned Girl'wakes up the unartificial better life within us almost as effectually as an hour spent in the company of good, honest, sprightly children. The Old-Fashioned Girl, Polly Milton, is a delightful creature!"— New York Tribune.

"Gladly we welcome the'Old-Fashioned Girl'to heart and home! Joyfully we herald her progress over the land! Hopefully we look forward to the time when our young people, following her example, will also be old-fashioned in purity of heart and simplicity of life, thus brightening like a sunbeam the atmosphere around them."— Providence Journal.

Mailed, postpaid, on receipt of the advertised price, by the Publishers,

ROBERTS BROTHERS,

Boston

MESSRS. ROBERTS BROTHERS'

Recent New Books.

A VISIT TO MY DISCONTENTED COUSIN. Handy-Volume Series, No. 8. 16mo. $1.00.

BURNAND (F. C.). More Happy Thoughts. 16mo. $1.00.

ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN. The Forest House and Catherine's Lovers. 16mo. $1.50.

HELPS ( Arthur). Essays Written in the Intervals of Business. 16mo. $1.50.

—— Brevia: Short Essays and Aphorisms. 16mo. $1.50.

—— Conversations on War and General Culture. 16mo. $1.50.

HALE ( Edward E.). Ten times One is Ten. 16mo. $0.88.

HAMERTON ( Philip G.). Thoughts about Art. 16mo. $2.00.

INGELOW ( Jean). The Monitions of the Unseen, and Poems of Love and Childhood. 12 Illustrations. 16mo. $1.50.

JUDD ( Sylvester). Margaret: A Tale of the Real and the Ideal, of Blight and Bloom. 16mo. $1.50.

—— Richard Edney and the Governor's Family. 16mo. $1.50.

KONEWKA ( Paul). Silhouette Illustrations to Goethe's Faust. Quarto. $4.00.

LOWELL ( Mrs. A. C.). Posies for Children. 16mo. $0.75.

LANDOR ( Walter Savage). Pericles and Aspasia. 16mo. $1.50.

MAX AND MAURICE. Translated by Charles T. Brooks. 12mo. $1.50.

MICHELET ( M. Jules). France Before Europe. 16mo. $1.00.

PARKER ( Joseph). Ad Clerum: Advices to a You ng Preacher. 16mo. $1.50.

PRESTON ( Harriet W.). Aspendale. 16mo. $1.50.

PUCK'S NIGHTLY PRANKS. Silhouette Illustrations by Paul Konewka. Paper Covers. $0.50

SEELEY (J. R.). Roman Imperialism and Other Lectures and Essays. 16mo. $1.50.

STOWE ( Harriet Beecher). Pink and White Tyranny. 16mo. $1.50.

JOHN WHOPPER'S ADVENTURES. 16mo. $0.75.

"Miss Alcott is really a benefactor of House-holds."— H. H.

LITTLE MEN: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys. By Louisa M. Alcott. With Illustrations. Price $1.50.

"The gods are to be congratulated upon the success of the Alcott experiment, as well as all childhood, young and old, upon the singular charm of the little men and little women who have run forth from the Alcott cottage, children of a maiden whose genius is beautiful motherhood."— The Examiner.

"No true-hearted boy or girl can read this book without deriving benefit from the perusal: nor, for that matter, will it the least injure children of a larger growth to endeavor to profit by the examples of gentleness and honesty set before them in its pages. What a delightful school'Jo'did keep! Why, it makes us want to live our childhood's days over again, in the hope that we might induce some kind-hearted female to establish just such a school, and might prevail upon our parents to send us,'because it was cheap.'... We wish the genial authoress a long life in which to enjoy the fruits of her labor, and cordially thank her, in the name of our young people, for her efforts in their behalf."— Waterbury American.

"Miss Alcott, whose name has already become a household word among little people, will gain a new hold upon their love and admiration by this little book. It forms a fitting sequel to'Little Women,'and contains the same elements of popularity.... We expect to see it even more popular than its predecessor, and shall heartily rejoice at the success of an Author whose works afford so much hearty and innocent enjoyment to the family circle, and teach such pleasant and wholesome lessons to old and young."— N. Y. Times.

"Suggestive, truthful, amusing, and racy, in a certain simplicity of style which very few are capable of producing. It is the history of only six months'school-life of a dozen boys, but is full of variety and vitality, and the having girls with the boys is a charming novelty, too. To be very candid, this book is so thoroughly good that we hope Miss Alcott will give us another in the same genial vein, for she understands children and their ways."— Phil. Press.

A specimen letter from a little woman to the author of"Little Men."

June 17, 1871.

Dear Miss Alcott,—We have just finished"Little Men,"and like it so much that we thought we would write and ask you to write another book sequel to"Little Men,"and have more about Laurie and Amy, as we like them the best. We are the Literary Club, and we got the idea from"Little Women."We have a paper two sheets of foolscap and a half. The re are four of us, two cousins and my sister and myself. Our assumed names are: Horace Greeley, President; Susan B. Anthony, Editor; Harriet B. Stowe, Vice-President; and myself, Anna C. Ritchie, Secretary. We call our paper the"Saturday Night,"and we all write stories and have reports of sermons and of our meetings, and write about the queens of England. We did not know but you would like to hear this, as the idea sprang from your book; and we thought we would write, as we liked your book so much. And now, if it is not too much to ask of you, I wish you would answer this, as we are very impatient to know if you will write another book; and please answer soon, as Miss Anthony is going away, and she wishes very much to hear from you before she does. If you write, please direct to —— Street, Brooklyn, N.Y.

You rs truly,

Alice ——.

Mailed to any address, postpaid, on receipt of the advertised price, by the Publishers,

ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.

Pink and White Tyranny.

A Society Novel.

BY

MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE,

AUTHOR OF"UNCLE TOM'S CABIN,""THE MINISTER'S WOOING,"ETC.

"Come, then, the colors and the ground prepare;

Dip in the rainbow, trick her off in air;

Choose a firm cloud before it fall, and in it

Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of this minute."

Pope.

BOSTON:

ROBERTS BROTHERS.

1871.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

CAMBRIDGE:

PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON.

PREFACE.

MY Dear Reader,—This story is not to be a novel, as the world understands the word; and we tell you so beforehand, lest you be in ill-humor by not finding what you expected. For if you have been told that your dinner is to be salmon and green peas, and made up your mind to that bill of fare, and then, on coming to the table, find that it is beefsteak and tomatoes, you may be out of sorts; not because beefsteak and tomatoes are not respectable viands, but because they are not what you have made up your mind to enjoy.

Now, a novel, in our days, is a three-story affair,—a complicated, complex, multiform composition, requiring no end of scenery and dramatis personæ, and plot and plan, together with trap-doors, pit-falls, wonderful escapes and thrilling dangers; and the scenes transport one all over the earth,—to England, It aly, Switzerland, Japan, and Kamtschatka. But this is a little commonplace

history, all about one man and one woman, living straight along in one little prosaic town in New England. It is, moreover, a story with a moral; and for fear that you shouldn't find out exactly what the moral is, we shall adopt the plan of the painter who wrote under his pictures,"This is a bear,"and"This is a turtle-dove."We shall tell you in the proper time succinctly just what the moral is, and send you off edified as if you had been hearing a sermon. So please to call this little sketch a parable, and wait for the exposition thereof.

CONTENTS.

Chap.

Page

I.

Falling in Love

1

II.

What she thinks of it

19

III.

The Sister

31

IV.

Preparation for Marriage

39

V.

We dding, and We dding-trip

56

VI.

Honey-moon, and after

63

VII.

Will she like it?

74

VIII.

Spindlewood

86

IX.

A Crisis

92

X.

Changes

104

XI.

Newport; or, the Paradise of Nothing to do

112

XII.

Home à la Pompadour

126

XIII.

John's Birthday

137

XIV.

A Great Moral Conflict

152

XV.

The Follingsbees arrive

161

XVI.

Mrs. John Seymour's Party, and what came of it

181

XVII.

After the Battle

197

XVIII.

A Brick turns up

213

XIX.

The Castle of Indolence

228

XX.

The Van Astrachans

243

XXI.

Mrs. Follingsbee's Party, and what came of it

250

XXII.

The Spider-web broken

268

XXIII.

Common-sense Arguments

281

XXIV.

Sentiment

v.

Sensibility

284

XXV.

We dding Bells

291

XXVI.

Motherhood

297

XXVII.

Checkmate

304

XXVIII.

After the Storm

321

XXIX.

The New Lillie

326

PINK AND WHITE TYRANNY.