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Work: A Story of Experience

Louisa May Alcott

Christie Devon, a twenty-one-year-old orphan, leaves her relatives to support herself independently.

"Work: A Story of Experience" by Louisa May Alcott is a semi-autobiographical novel. Christie Devon, a twenty-one-year-old orphan, leaves her relatives to support herself independently.

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“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.”

Christie emphasized her speech by energetic demonstrations in the bread-trough, kneading the dough as if it was her destiny, and she was shaping it to suit herself; while Aunt Betsey stood listening, with uplifted pie-fork, and as much astonishment as her placid face was capable of expressing. As the girl paused, with a decided thump, the old lady exclaimed:

“What crazy idee you got into your head now?”

Contents

  1. 01I. Christie
  2. 02Christie
  3. 03Aunt Betsey’s Interlarded Speech
  4. 04II. Servant
  5. 05Mrs. Stuart.
  6. 06Hepsey
  7. 07III. Actress
  8. 08Christie as Queen of the Amazons
  9. 09IV. Governess
  10. 10Mr. Philip Fletcher
  11. 11Mrs. Saltonstall and Family
  12. 12“No, I thank you”
  13. 13V. Companion
  14. 14Helen Carrol
  15. 15VI. Seamstress
  16. 16Mrs. King and Miss Cotton
  17. 17VII. Through the Mist
  18. 18The Rescue
  19. 19“C. Wilkins, Clear Starcher”
  20. 20VIII. A Cure for Despair
  21. 21Lisha Wilkins
  22. 22Mrs. Wilkins’ “Six Lively Infants”
  23. 23IX. Mrs. Wilkins’s Minister
  24. 24Mr. Power
  25. 25X. Beginning Again
  26. 26Mrs. Sterling
  27. 27David and Christie in the Greenhouse
  28. 28XI. In the Strawberry Bed
  29. 29Mr. Power and Christie in the Strawberry Bed
  30. 30XII. Christie’s Gala
  31. 31A Friendly Chat
  32. 32XIII. Waking Up
  33. 33Kitty.
  34. 34“One Happy Moment”
  35. 35XIV. Which?
  36. 36David
  37. 37XV. Midsummer
  38. 38XVI. Mustered in
  39. 39“Then they were married”
  40. 40XVII. The Colonel
  41. 41XVIII. Sunrise
  42. 42“Don’t mourn, dear heart, but Work”
  43. 43XIX. Little Heart’s-Ease
  44. 44“She’s a good little gal; looks consid’able like you”
  45. 45XX. At Forty
  46. 46“Each ready to do her part to hasten the coming of the happy end”

About this edition

Author
Louisa May Alcott
Era
Modern (c. 1800–1945)
Reading level
Intermediate: some philosophy helps
Formats
EPUB, PDF
Length
349 pages
This edition
Modern Philosophers