Adapted from Daughters of the Puritans, by Seth Curtis Beach

Louisa May Alcott has been called, perhaps truly, the most popular story-teller for children in her generation. She came up through great tribulation, paying dearly in labor and privation for her successes, but one must pronounce her life happy and fortunate, since she lived to enjoy her fame and fortune twenty years, to witness the sale of a million volumes of her writings, to receive more than two hundred thousand dollars from her publishers, and thereby to accomplish the great purpose upon which as a girl she had set her heart, which was to see her father and mother comfortable in their declining years.

Successful as Alcott was as a writer, she was greater as a woman, and the story of her life is as interesting, as full of tragedy and comedy, as the careers of her heroes and heroines. In fact, we have reason to believe that the adventures of her characters are often not so much invented as remembered, the pranks and frolics of her boys and girls being episodes from her own youthful experience. The happy girlhood which she portrays was her own, in spite of forbidding conditions. The struggle, in which her cheerful nature extorted happiness from unwilling fortune, gives a dramatic interest to her youthful experiences, as her literary disappointments and successes do to the years of her maturity.

Alcott's first story to see the light was printed in a newspaper when she was twenty, in 1852, though it had been written at sixteen. She received $\($ 5.00\)$ for it, and the event is interesting as the beginning of her fortune. This little encouragement came at a period of considerable trial for the family. The following is from her journal of 1853: "In January, I started a little school of about a dozen in our parlor. In May, my school closed and I went to L. as second girl. I needed the change, could do the wash, and was glad to earn my $\($ 2.00\)$ a week."

The picture of Jo in a garret in "Little Women," planning and writing stories, is drawn from Louisa's experiences of the following winter. A frequent entry in her journal for this period is " $\$ 5.00$ for a story" and her winter's earnings are summed up, "school, one quarter, \(\$50\), sewing \(\$50\), stories, \(\$20\)." In December we read, "Got five dollars for a tale and twelve for sewing." Teaching, writing, and sewing alternate in her life for the next five years, and, for a year or two yet, the needle is.mightier than the pen; but in 1856 , she began to be paid $\($ 10\)$ for a story, and, in 1859, the Atlantic accepted a story and paid her $\($ 50\)$.

Consider each of the three choices separately and select all that apply.

The passage implies that the children portrayed in Alcott's fiction had

(A) far more money than than Alcott had as a child.
(B) happy childhoods, with pranks, frolics, and adventures.
(C) lives that were not very different from that of Alcott as a child.



Consider each of the three choices separately and select all that apply.

The author believes that the financial difficulties faced by Alcott at the beginning of her career

(A) make her later years more dramatically interesting than they would otherwise be.
(B) made it difficult for her to fulfill her life's wish of ensuring her parents' financial security.
(C) were the inspiration for the travails that her literary heroines and heroes. faced.



Consider each of the three choices separately and select all that apply.

Which of the following statements regarding Alcott's early writing is supported by the passage?

(A) Sewing was more profitable than writing during the early years of her career.
(B) Her earliest ambition was to write novels for children.
(C) Her first published story was written while she was a teenager.



It can be inferred from the passage that the author would support which of the following statements regarding the pursuit of happiness?

(A) Money is unimportant to reaching true happiness.
(B) Material success can be a factor in one's long-term happiness.
(C) The key to real happiness is marriage and children.
(D) Only a well-rounded life can bring one happiness.
(E) Happiness is an illusion created by works of fiction.



With which of the following sentences could the author most logically conclude this passage?

(A) Alcott's success was only short-lived, however.
(B) Thus did the myriad hardships endured by Alcott begin to lead into the attainment of her goals, both personal and professional.
(C) We can see from this that when pursuing a dream like writing, it's wise to have a backup plan.
(D) Many talented writers got their first big breaks from the Atlantic.
(E) Magazine and newspaper publications paved the way for Alcott's instant success as a novelist.