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“Spirituous Consolation”: Alcott’s Jokes on Drinking and Religion

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Abstract

The second book edition of Louisa May Alcott's Hospital Sketches eliminated jokes about drinking and religion. Although these were small changes, the edgy theme of drinking and religion as topics that could and sometimes should be taken lightly (even by a writer who also considered both topics as serious) interested Alcott throughout her career. Jokes on drinking and religion, although not a major element in any one of Alcott's stories (and not present at all in Little Women, published the year before the reprint of Hospital Sketches and written while negotiations for the reprint were going on), were recurrent in her work generally and added up to a substantial element in her humorous attacks on pomposity.

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Notes

  1. Page numbers refer to Little Women, Little Men, Jo’s Boys, ed. Elaine Showalter (NY: Literary Classics of the United States, 2005), based on the first American editions of Little Women (originally published 1868), Little Women, Part Second (1869), Little Men (1871), and Jo’s Boys (1886). Chapter numbers are included as well as page numbers for the convenience of those with other editions. In general, I have cited in this article either reprints of the first editions, or the earliest editions available to me. Publication dates refer to first book publication, with the date of the edition cited (where different) in brackets. Information on dates of periodical publication or of earlier book publication is included in the references.

  2. Mattingly discusses temperance in Little Women, pp. 147–148; Alcott’s Women’s Christian Temperance Union membership activity pp. 153–154; and “Silver Pitchers,” Jack and Jill, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys pp. 154–155.

  3. “Music and Macaroni,” collected posthumously in Lulu’s Library, Vol. III, does not seem to have been published before Alcott’s death, and it was evidently one of the last she wrote. Her December 6, 1887, journal entry mentions that she was working on “Jino,” and the editors’ footnote (p. 326) says that no story of this title has been located. “Jino” was perhaps an error in transcription for “Tino.”

  4. For example, Patricia Meyer Spacks, “[Little Women and the Female Imagination],” in Critical Essays on Louisa May Alcott, ed. Madeleine B. Stern, Boston: G.K. Hall & Company, 1984, pp. 114–119; and Nina Auerbach, “Little Women,” pp. 129–140.

References

Primary References: (Note: The date of the first edition, where different from the date of the edition cited, is provided in brackets.)

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Aunt Jo’s Scrapbag, Vol. I: My Boys. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1884 [1871]: “Tessa’s Surprises,” pp. 35–57 (originally in Merry’s Museum, December 1868); “Buzz,” pp. 58–62) (originally in Merry’s Museum, February 1868); “Little Marie of Lehon,” pp. 158–175).

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Aunt Jo’s Scrapbag, Vol. II: Shawl-straps. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1883 [1872], originally serialized in The Christian Union, March 13–April 3, 1872.

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Aunt Jo’s Scrapbag, Vol. III: Cupid and Chow-Chow. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1890 [1873]: “Huckleberry,” pp. 41–53 (originally in Youth’s Companion January 16, 1873); “The Moss People,” pp. 157–180; “A Marine Merry-Making,” pp. 190–209.

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Aunt Jo’s Scrapbag, Vol. IV: My Girls. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1893 [1877]: “Lost in a London Fog,” pp. 28–40; “What the Girls Did,” pp. 101–115 (originally in Youth’s Companion April 9, 1874).

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Aunt Jo’s Scrapbag, Vol. V: Jimmy’s Cruise in the Pinafore. Boston: Little, Brown, 1921 [Roberts Brothers, 1879]: “How They Camped Out,” pp. 119–140.

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Aunt Jo’s Scrapbag, Vol. VI: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1893 [1882]: “A Strange Island,” pp. 192–207 (originally in Morning Glories and Other Stories, 1868).

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Eight Cousins. Boston: Little, Brown, 1927 [Roberts Brothers, 1875], originally serialized in the British Good Things, December 1874–November 1875 and in the American St. Nicholas Magazine, June–October, 1875.

  • Alcott, Louisa May. A Garland for Girls. Boston: Little, Brown, 1908 [Roberts Brothers, 1887]: “Water-Lilies,” pp. 109–146; “Little Button Rose,” pp. 193–244.

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Hospital Sketches. Ed. Bessie Z. Jones. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960 (based on the text of the 1863 first edition).

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Hospital Sketches and Camp and Fireside Stories. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1869.

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Jack and Jill. Boston: Little, Brown, 1905 [Roberts Brothers, 1880], originally serialized in St. Nicholas Magazine, December 1879–October, 1880.

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  • Alcott, Louisa May. Kitty’s Class Day and Other Stories. Boston: Little, Brown, 1908 [Roberts Brothers, 1882]): “Aunt Kipp,” pp. 25–58) (originally published in book form by itself, as Aunt Kipp, 1868).

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women, Little Men, Jo’s Boys. Ed. Elaine Showalter. NY: Literary Classics of the United States, 2005. This edition is based on the first American editions of Little Women (Roberts Brothers, 1868), Little Women, Part Second (1869), Little Men (1871), and Jo’s Boys (1886).

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Louisa May Alcott Unmasked, Collected Thrillers. Ed. Madeleine B. Stern. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1995: “Behind a Mask,” pp. 361–429 (originally in The Flag of Our Union, October 13, 20, 27, November 3, 1866).

  • Alcott, Louisa May. “Lu Sing.” St. Nicholas Magazine, 30: (1902). 128–135.

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Lulu’s Library, Vol. II. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1890 [first book publication 1887]: “Queen Aster,” pp. 122–134 (originally in The Woman’s Journal, February 26, 1887); “The Princes and the Pansies: A Fairy Tale” pp. 247–274.

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Lulu’s Library, Vol. III. Boston: Little, Brown, 1912 [Roberts Brothers, 1889]: “A Christmas Turkey and How It Came,” pp. 22–42 (originally in Harpers Young People, December 22, 1885); “Music and Macaroni,” pp. 92–141; “Trudel’s Siege,” pp. 219–258 (originally in St. Nicholas Magazine, April 1888).

  • Alcott, Louisa May. An Old-Fashioned Girl. Boston: Little, Brown, 1911 [Roberts Brothers, 1870], originally serialized in Merry’s Museum, July–December 1879.

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Rose in Bloom. Boston: Little, Brown, 1927 [Roberts Brothers, 1876].

  • Alcott, Louisa May. The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott. Ed. Joel Myerson and Daniel Shealy, assoc. Ed. Madeleine B. Stern. Boston: Little, Brown, 1987.

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Silver Pitchers and Independence. Boston: Little, Brown, 1908 [Roberts Brothers, 1876]: “Silver Pitchers,” pp. 1–55 (originally serialized in Youth’s Companion May 6–June 10, 1875); “Transcendental Wild Oats,” pp. 95–120 (originally in the Independent December 18, 1873); “By the River,” pp. 175–207 (originally in the Independent June 10, 1875).

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Spinning Wheel Stories. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1885 [1884]: “Little Things,” pp. 91–113 (originally in St. Nicholas Magazine, May 1884).

  • Alcott, Louisa May. Work. Boston: Little, Brown, 1900 [Roberts Brothers, 1873], originally in the Christian Union, December 18, 1872-June 18, 1873).

Secondary References

  • Alberghene, Janice M. and Beverly Lyon Clark. Ed. Little Women and the Feminist Imagination: Criticism, Controversy, Personal Essays. NY: Garland Publishing, 1999: Ann Douglas, “Introduction to Little Women,” pp. 43–62 (originally published in the 1983 Signet edition of Little Women, pp. vii–xxvii); Judith Fetterly, “Little Women: Alcott’s Civil War,” pp. 27–41 (originally published in Feminist Studies, Summer 1979, 369–370, 381–383).

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Acknowledgment

I am grateful to the Children’s Literature Research Collections of the University of Minnesota for access to issues of St. Nicholas Magazine, Youth’s Companion, and Harpers Young People.

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    Ruth Berman

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Berman, R. “Spirituous Consolation”: Alcott’s Jokes on Drinking and Religion. Child Lit Educ 39, 169–185 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-007-9048-2

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