Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 - March 6, 1888), novelist, activist, and poet, is still famous enough today to be the subject of today's Google Doodle. 

She was born in Pennsylvania but the family moved to Massachusetts when she was two years old. Her father, Bronson Alcott, was a prominent intellectual of his day, associated with the Transcendentalist movement, but he was not particularly successful at supporting his family, and Louisa began writing to supplement the family income. Her first poem, Sunlight, was published in 1852, and her first book, Flower Fables, three years later.

Her earliest novels were published under a pseudonym because they were not written on "ladylike" subjects, and it was many years before her authorship was revealed. However, they had been financially successful, which was her goal.

Alcott supported several social causes such as abolition, womens' suffrage, and temperance. She knew several of the reformers of the time, including William Lloyd Garrison, Lucy Stone, and Theodore Parker. In 1875 she attended the Women's Congress in Syracuse, NY. She might have written more about these subjects, but following the great success of Little Women (1868) and its successor novels for children, she decided to continue writing what was most lucrative for her (and her family).

Alcott has been quoted in various places as saying that she only wrote one hymn, A little kingdom I possess, which first appeared in a songbook titled The Sunny Side (1875) and later in Alcott's novel Under the Lilacs. However, this quote is taken from a letter she wrote to Eva Munson Smith in 1883 when she gave permission for that text to be included in Smith's monumental Woman in Sacred Song (which was not actually published until 1888). One of the editors of The Sunny Side, Charles Wendte, later published another songbook titled The Carol (1886), in which today's hymn for children appeared. Alcott's name is prominently trumpeted on the book's title page and introduction, and this text appears to have been written at Wendte's request (also, its copyright date is the same as the book's). So, clearly, she did write more than one (and a few of her other poems were matched to tunes by later hymnal editors).

What shall little children bring
As a grateful offering
For the ever-watchful care
That surrounds us everywhere?

Gathered in this happy fold,
Safe from wintry want and cold,
Fed by hands that never tire;
Warmed at Love's unfailing fire.

Sheltered by protecting arms
From the great world's sins and harms,
While a Patience, wise and sweet,
Guides our little wand'ring feet.

Jesus! dearest name of all,
Bless your children great and small;
Faith and hope in God we bring,
These shall be our offering.

Louisa May Alcott, 1886; alt.
Tune: INNOCENTS (7.7.7.7.)
The Parish Choir, 1850;
harm. William Henry Monk, 1861

The postage stamp above was issued in 1940, representing Alcott as one of ten authors in the Famous Americans series of stamps.



Eight Years Ago: John Haynes Holmes

Six Years Ago: Louisa May Alcott

Saint Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene, sometimes called the "apostle to the apostles" because she was the first witness to Jesus' resurrection on Easter morning, is commemorated on some church calendars today. As I've written before, some of the other New Testament stories which supposedly feature Mary are now thought perhaps to be stories of other women.

It was Pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century who declared Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany (Martha's sister) and the penitent woman who washed the feet of Jesus to be the same person, and it was not until the twentieth century that Western religions separated those women and their stories (1969 for the Roman Catholic Church). During all that time, Mary Magdalene was frequently portrayed in art and literature carrying the jar of perfume that was used to anoint Jesus' feet in the story from Luke 7:36-50. This hymn for the day also puts her in that story.

When Mary, moved by grateful love,
The precious ointment poured
Upon the head and feet of him
She owned as Christ and Lord,
The odor of the costly gift
Pervaded all the room;
How grateful to the sense it seemed --
How sweet the rich perfume.

An off'ring similar I bring
In thanks and praise to thee
My heart's devoted love is all,
O Christ, accept of me
This gift, and may its fragrance rise
As incense to thy throne
And seal me with thy gracious hand
To work for thee, thine own.

Mrs. R. F. Williams, 1884; alt.
Tune: PETERSHAM (C.M.D.)
Clement W. Poole, 1875

This hymn text appeared in Women in Sacred Song (1889), a two-volume collection of hymn and song texts and tunes written by women and compiled by Eva Munson Smith, and I'm not sure if it appeared anywhere else. There were many more texts than tunes in Smith's collection, and this one was printed without music. Unfortunately, not much more can probably be determined about the author, not even her own first name, as the initials probably belonged to Mr. Williams.

P.S. The painting above is by the seventeenth-century Florentine artist Carlo Dolci.


***UPDATE***  This hymn with words and music together is now posted on Facebook (but with a different, more familiar tune).  Go to "Conjubilant W. Song" and click on "Photos" -- it's in the Downloadable Hymns section.


Two Years Ago: Saint Mary Magdalene

One Year Ago: Emily E. S. Elliott