Bronson Alcott

B was rereading bits and pieces of Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs, one of the best biographies of Louisa May Alcott ever written. For those who don't know that Little Women was based on Louisa's real life, it might be helpful to know that Bronson was "Father", Abba was "Marmee", Anna was "Meg" and Louisa was "Jo". Here is a part of the story I found especially enlightening.

"There was one night when a windy snow was creeping in at every drafty crack. There was practically no wood in the shed and Abba was frantic. Suddenly, quite unannounced, a load of wood arrived, sent by a kindly neighbor out of his own store, got on his own wood lot, perhaps even cut by Bronson himself. The Alcotts' friends had all been anxious over the state of affairs at the Hosmer Cottage and each wanted to do something to help. It was surely a godsend and rejoiced Abba's anxious heart -- for a few hours. Later in the evening, with cold and dark and wind still surrounding them, Bronson came in smiling delightedly. Avery poor man had just come to him, telling of a cold house, a sick baby, and an empty shed with no fuel. It was so fortunate that they had wood to give him, Bronson told his wife. He had let the poor fellow take all that he needed and had helped him to wheel it home.

"But what of his own family, Abba returned, hotly this time, for in spite of her unflinching affection she was not possessed of inexhaustible patience. The Alcotts had a baby too, she reminded him; it was just as cold in their house and would be dangerously so before morning. Her reproaches were interrupted by a knock at the door. A second neighbor, not knowing what the first had done, had also sent them a load of wood. the fire was piled high again and warmth and cheerfulness filled the house once more.

"I told you that we would not suffer," Bronson reminded Abba. It was his sure belief that God would always provide for those who loved Him. Abba believed it also, with a difference. She thought that God expected people to help themselves as far as they could and not to lay the whole burden upon Him. Through all their lives, Anna and her father tended to accept the first, trusting belief; Louisa and her mother, the greater responsibility of the second. It made no rift between them, bu it shaped their destinies to the end."

After I read it, I realized that Louisa May Alcott had an incredible father, much like a George Mueller. I also realized that many of us take sides in this argument. How much faith is foolishness? How much foolishness is faith?