Coffee or Compliments?

For some Friday Fun Facts, have you ever read the book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott? or seen the movie? any of the versions? (there are a few–I actually like the 1949 and the 1994 ones best) Ms. Alcott may have had a different perspective on fashion and beauty as the following quote may prove:

“If you dear little girls would only learn what real beauty is, and not pinch and starve and bleach yourselves out so, you’d save an immense deal of time and money and pain. A happy soul in a healthy body makes the best sort of beauty for man or woman.”

Louisa May Alcott, Eight Cousins

In fact, she seems to have thought that it was careful acts and words, contentment and cheerfulness that made a person FORGET their clothes and others to do the same. This forgetting and simplicity was what made “plain gowns pretty.” It seems that this is another way to say that this is the beauty of humility (not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less {C.S. Lewis})–at least for those who love such things.

“The thought that, insignificant as she was, she yet might do some good, made her very careful of her acts and words, and so anxious to keep head contented and face happy, that she forgot her clothes, and made others do the same. She did not know it, but that good old fashion of simplicity made the plain gowns pretty, and the grace of unconsciousness beautified their little wearer with the charm that makes girlhood sweetest to those who truly love and reverence it.”

Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

On this cold and rainy day, I’m tempted to curl up with a cuppa and a book! I agree with Louisa May Alcott: “I’d rather take coffee than compliments just now.”