SIGNATURE OF REFORM
EDITED BY MADELEINE B. STERN
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY PRESS BOSTON Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1
1. Domestic Reform: Food, Drink, Dress 19 Catharine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, The American Woman's Home 21 * * * L. M. Alcott's Domestic Philosophy: Merry's Museum 26 L. M. Alcott on Food: Eight Cousins 27 L. M. Alcott on Drink: Eight Cousins 29 L. M. Alcott on Drink: "Jimmy's Lecture," The Press Leaflets 30 L M. Alcott on Dress: An Old-Fashioned Girl 33 L. M. Alcott on Dress: Eight Cousins 35
2. Health and Alternative Medicine: Homeopathy, Phrenology, Mind Cure 37 Samuel C. F. Hahnemann, Organon of the Healing Art 39 L. N. Fowler, Synopsis of Phrenology and Physiology 41 Anna B. Newman, Trust in the Infinite 44 * * * L. M. Alcott on Homeopathy: Eight Cousins 46 L. M. Alcott: "Lines to a Good Physician, From a Grateful Patient" 47 vi —*~- Contents
Phrenological Examination of L. M. Alcott 48 L. M. Alcott: Poem to Her Sister Anna Pratt 49 Character Analysis of L. M. Alcott in Phrenological Journal 50 L. M. Alcott on Mind Cure: Letters to Maggie Lukens 51 L. M. Alcott on Mind Cure: Journal, 1885 53 "Miss Alcott on Mind-Cure": The Woman's Journal 54
3. Education: Moral, Intellectual, Physical 57 Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Record of Mr. Alcott's School 59 A. Bronson Alcott, Reports of the School Committee, and Superintendent of the Schools 63 Dr. Dio Lewis, Catalogue and Circular of Dr. Dio Lewis's Family School for Young Ladies 66 * * * L. M. Alcott's Pedagogical Credo: Little Men, An Old-Fashioned Girl, Eight Cousins, Jo's Boys 69 L. M. Alcott on the New Gymnastics: Letter to Louisa C. G. Bond 71 L. M. Alcott: "The King of Clubs and the Queen of Hearts," The Monitor 72
4. Communal Society: "The Newness" 75 A. Bronson Alcott to Junius Alcott 77 Clara Endicott Sears, Bronson Alcott's Fruitlands 79 * * * L. M. Alcott's Journal: Fruitlands 83 L. M. Alcott: "Transcendental Wild Oats," The Independent 87
5. Antislavery and Abolition 103 Vigilance Committee [Re: Anthony Burns], Americans, Freemen 105 Contents —=— vii
George and Mary Mauzy of Harpers Ferry to James and Eugenia Burton 106 John Brown's Speech before the Court 108 Hannah Ropes, Civil War Nurse: The Diary and Letters of Hannah Ropes 110 Samuel Joseph May, Some Recollections of the Antislavery Conflict 113 * * * L. M. Alcott: "With a Rose, That Bloomed on the Day of John Brown's Martyrdom," The Liberator 116 L. M. Alcott to Anna Alcott 116 L. M. Alcott to Anna Alcott Pratt 118 L. M. Alcott to Edward J. Bartlett and Garth Wilkinson James 120 L. M. Alcott to Alfred Whitman 121 L. M. Alcott to Mr. Rand 123 L. M. Alcott to Thomas Wentworth Higginson 123 L. M. Alcott: Hospital Sketches 125
6. Woman's Economic Role: Egalitarianism 137 Margaret Fuller, Woman in the Nineteenth Century 139 "Petition of Abby May Alcott and Others to the Citizens of Massachusetts," Una 141 A Practical Illustration of "Woman's Right to Labor"; or, A Letter from Marie E. Zakrzewska, M.D.,.. . edited by Caroline H. Dall 142 * * * L. M. Alcott: "How I Went Out to Service," The Independent 144 L. M. Alcott to James Redpath 145 L. M. Alcott: "Happy Women," New York Ledger 146 L. M. Alcott: Work: A Story of Experience 150 viii -*— Contents
L. M. Alcott to Maria S. Porter 152 L. M. Alcott: Rose in Bloom: A Sequel to "Eight Cousins" 153
7. Sex and Feminism 155 William Andrus Alcott, The Young Wife 157 Margaret Fuller, Woman in the Nineteenth Century 161 * X- * L. M. Alcott: "Taming a Tartar," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper 162 L. M. Alcott: "Woman's Part in the Concord Celebration," Woman's Journal 198
8. Suffrage 203 William Henry Channing to the Woman's Rights Convention 205 "Petition of Abby May Alcott and Others to the Citizens of Massachusetts," Una 209 * * * L. M. Alcott to Lucy Stone 211 L. M. Alcott to The Woman's Journal 214 L. M. Alcott to the American Woman Suffrage Association 220 L. M. Alcott: Jo's Boys 221
Index 223