“Little Women from Massachusetts,” Friend, Jan. 2011, 18–19
Little Women from Massachusetts
The activity day girls from Marlborough and Framingham, Massachusetts, were learning about keeping journals. So when they visited Orchard House, just a few minutes away in Concord, they were really inspired.
Orchard House is where Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, lived with her parents and three sisters. All of the Alcott girls kept journals. They even brought them to the dinner table so they could read their latest entries out loud to their family.
Before going inside the house, the Primary girls sat under the big trees to talk about what they write about in their own journals. Like Nephi, they like to write “the things of [their] soul” (2 Nephi 4:15).
Inside the house, the girls saw the wedding dress the Alcott girls made for their sister Anna and a picture of an owl that May painted over the fireplace in Louisa’s room. They also learned about the sisters’ different talents and interests. Louisa was a writer, and Anna liked acting. Elizabeth loved music, and May was an artist.
The activity day group is made up of girls with different personalities and interests too. They even have girls from two different wards, and several are not members of the Church. But they all like doing fun and inspiring things together for activity day.
After this activity, these “little women” will have even more to write about in their journals!
Orchard House
Louisa wrote Little Women at the little round white desk by the window in her room. Her sister May painted Louisa’s favorite bird over the fireplace (see close-up on page 19).
Bedchamber photographs courtesy of Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House; other photos by Elizabeth Pinborough