Eventually much later than that it becomes the home of amos Ronson Alcott and his family. One of the doctors Louisa May Alcott in this house writes a book that really changes a lot of the way people think about children and the way they think about young women and the way they think about mature women. It was a very restive progressive book into the state still remains it because its a simple true to life story of four young women and their parents. Mr. Olcott was an educator primarily in the early days. Mrs. Olcott was a very progressive thinker who is deeply in love with mr. Olcott. Mr. Olcott met Ralph Waldo Emerson and they struck up a deep friendship. Emerson was well ensconced and he thought olcott belonged here and he thought this town had Something Special to offer. We had the Political Revolution in 1775 and we had a literary revolution in the 1800s. Mr. Emerson wanted him to move here. I wanted to focus for a moment on what to love the fireplace. This is really an expression of mr. Olcotts lifelong belief. Of course its a very elaborate way of saying never stop learning. You are never too young to start and never too old to keep going. That was very important. In the early years mr. Alcott was educating the young and it was extremely unusual for the day. Was an era when most teachers were concerned primarily with order in the classroom. They would use the rod and some of the expressions which we find a little honey today must not have been funny to the children. One of them is if the boy is not bad now hes about to be so go ahead and strike. Mr. Alcott eustis staff to guide the teacher knows what you have to know so why are you encouraging questions . He had a lot of difficulty with people getting nervous about the unusual techniques that the children really loves mr. Alcott so what was really about 100 years ahead of his time. His lifelong dream had really been to teach adults as well and he did find that he could finally do that in this room in 1879. Over here we have one of the cofounders of philosophy and thats what Ronson Alcott chose to call that opportunity to start in this room in 1879. Mr. Emerson once said of Ronson Alcott that mr. Alcott is the formal genius of our day. These two gentlemen were close friends. They walked together on a daily basis and they really supported each other and everything. It is not a surprise that he helped cofound this Concord School of philosophy as mr. Alcott called it. It soon was overflowing these walls. People stood outside so they could hear and one of the attendees donated 500 which was a priestly sum in those days and a small lecture hall was built and that is the building up on the hill. It was always meant to be a very rustic looking structure but a lecture hall. When it comes to finances, they alcotts as saying that they had the alcott sinking fund. It seems their finances got worse and worse and worse. Mr. Alcott was not always paid very well for what he was doing. It wasnt that he was working hard. It was that he was a little too unabated and sometimes people didnt appreciate what he was doing. One time very poignantly he said promises were not always kept. I had to buy a shawl but i able to better another time. He was always trying hard but not necessarily doing well financially. Sometimes it meant that all the women in household were pitching in and away that in that era was not very lady like. Was supposed to be the man who was doing out there earning and the women tidying up the house and cooking and cleaning and raising the children. They were a little bit unusual financially that way. Here we are and that alcott dining room and of course they had meals here. Mrs. Alcotts china was sometimes the service use. This was their best china and the initial m was her maiden name may. We have lisa may end abigail mae may was not a madeup name. That was her maiden name. This is english china. They were struggling financially a lot of the time so once she said we will always be a respectful family because we have our china. Of course she was teasing. She wasnt that serious about it but she was happy to have this in their family and in this direction we have some wonderful portraits. This one is particularly interesting of Louisa May Alcott she looks less well in this portrait than she did a few years earlier because she is 38 years old here. She had done in the civil war in the union army contracted ifas and pneumonia and was treated with heavy doses of kelenna which is mercury. Today we no mercury is not good to ingest but back then it was medication. They thought the disease was eating you as you are losing your teeth in your hair and Everything Else preaching managed to recover from all of this much to the amazement of many people because others did not recover. George feely who is a famous portrait artist at that time learned how famous mrs. Alcott was in italy at the same time he was in little women had become an international hit. Someone recently said to me that Louisa May Alcott in that day was more famous than jr roland. She was a Huge International sensation. George feely asked miss alcott if he could paint her and i said today we have this george feely painting in our dining room. The only other dining room in america that i know of with the george feely and it is the white house where there is a wonderful portrait of Abraham Lincoln done by george healy. He was in that day the big painter could be summoned to paint president so it was quite an honor that she was painted by mr. Healy however she was very disappointed. She said i look like a smoky relic from a fire. There had been a a fire in 1872 that involved a terrible disaster in boston and she thought she looked like she had stepped right out of that fire. She said we should hang up behind a door. Then we have an interesting likeness of elizabeth alcott. She is the actual model for women and shes the only one whose name does not change in the little women accounts. This is the only likeness that we have of her and she is the one who died just before they moved into this house. They spent a whole year fixing this house up and she came many times. They were excited that this would be the finest home for them and this was the place they wanted. She sort of knew because she was so ill that perhaps she would not be living here. If you look at this archway that leads into the parlor the girl even as young women were still putting on plays as they had done through the early years and they had hung a curtain between these two rooms. The dining room portion with the table moved out of the way could become their stage and they had many wonderful sets and scenery and costumes. And then the audience would sit here and in little women towards the beginning of the book the girls are going to put on a play its a Christmas Present and its going to be called rodrigo. That is a play that she did right and she played the role of rodrigo. They performed it right in that dining room and at one point in little women it describes the audience sitting on a cot that collapses during the play and another time the ceiling collapse. Louisa in the book would say at like nothing is wrong. Keep going, keep going so she was really one who loved dramatic place. That shows today her early experience in the plays on the drama helps with her writing style. Louisa loves making up stories free she often made them up just out loud when they walked along taking a walk in the area around walden pond with Henry David Thoreau but she also would record a lot of these things and do a lot of writing as well. I would say shes probably writing almost every day. She loved it and it was a release for her as well. It was an outlet. She didnt have a tremendous amount of success at first but she had some success almost from the beginning in the sense that she had short stories and poems published early on and i think that was enough to keep her going credit one juncture when she was Teaching School in boston and she boarded with james field famous sculptor and his wife she showed mr. Fields some of her writing and very hopeful that shes living in that household and maybe he will take an interest. He told her stick to your teaching mrs. Alcott. You cant write. She kept going. Much later she paid mr. Field back a loan he had given her to help with the establishment of her first Little School and she said with all due respect i think i shall stick to my writing as it pays better than my teaching. She really became a big Financial Success eventually. Now coming up to the second floor we have the parents bedroom. May alcott the youngest sister who was amy in the books bedroom and this room it is the most popular and the most important to most people where she wrote little women. This is her bedchamber. Originally she shared it with her sister anna who was called meg the story and of course we know that louisa was joe and this is where and a little half moon desk built for louisa by her father she said and panned little women. It was fine to write letters but you know, this was something you should reserve for the man. The fact that louises family supportive in this way was really quite amazing. And the building of the desk was more than just a convenience. It was really a wonderful support psychologically. Louises mother was equally supportive. She made her a suit and a cat that she could pull down what she needed to concentrate and close yourself off from the world. She also gave her a pen and wrote a little note with it saying mavis penn your Youth Inspire when wrapped in pure should wonderful support from her family. Now, little woman was a simple story. She didnt say much will come of it when she first sent it off to the publisher but she may knows that they lived most of it and if it were to succeed that would be the reason you have published if the damage would either but gave it to someone who loved it. Love that more than anything she had ever written. So the publisher decided that we are going to go with this and conservatively started off with a very small number but that First Edition of about 2500 books sold out very fast and so of course more copies were printed. And people then as now, might have been a little surprise for such a simple story but it was way ahead of its time in many ways and yet, they walked a fine line between leading people into more progressive thought such as the idea that a woman could be independent. That a woman could have ideals of her own. That she could have a temper and not be considered the villain. All of these human qualities that women were often told to suppress came out and this person has been in her all along. And the family was not to perfect, they all have flaws, they struggled in many ways and yet, they supported each other, loved each other, went on. Nineveh felt sorry for themselves and sat around and said i guess im such where i cant do anything. They kept going. So this is really an inspiring role model for people to read this book. Especially young women for whom this really was intended. Little women succeeded beyond louises wildest imaginings. It made her really a superstar of the day. This of course changed everything partially because her very honest publisher, he advised louisa to keep the copyright which was wonderful advice. Because that meant she could really make money on the book and she became quite wealthy. By the standards of the day, you probably think of her almost as a millionaire today. That of course made the family very comfortable, it allowed all of their debt to be repaid. They could then feel at ease in that regard. And louisa was always so generous. She was always doing kindness for others. If someone needed something and she could do it she often would be helping others. In much the same way that they had been helped when she was young. Regularly by emerson a close family friend. He was always living a 10 bill under a tablecloth or Something Like that in transmission they did not see they would just find it later and not be able to say wait a minute, you put that there. It was at least trying and louisa took note of that. So she made a difference in everyones life that was near her. Is interesting, the literary comfort is so multifaceted and depending on ones interest, you could easily just bypass an authors home because you can read the book but there is something about this particular book and this particular house that is unique in the sense that as far as i know, it is the only piece of literature that not only has maintained its importance to 70 people, it has never been out of print, widely translated, well over 50 translations. Every beloved by people of all cultures. And it was written and set in a house that is now open to the public. When people walk through this house they often say to me this is like walking through the book. Someone once said if you could really go to hogwarts if you read harry potter. Hogwarts is not a real place and this is. Our encore presentation of some of the stops along the