Middle-Grade Review: An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

Polly Milton travels from the country to the city in 1869 to spend several weeks with the Shaw family. Fanny is slightly older than she is, and quite the young lady. Tom is also fourteen, and not taken seriously by anyone but his grandmother. Maud is very young, and is spoiled and considered “fractious”. The Shaw’s wealthy lifestyle contrasts sharply with Polly’s more modest, hardworking background, and soon Polly is improving the lives of everyone around her by encouraging more wholesome pursuits and attitudes. She’s appalled and the frippery that Fanny wears, and encourages the other children to get more exercise, even sledding with Tom even though she is much too old to do so. She listens to the grandmother’s stories, placates Maud by playing dolls with her, and lightens Mr. Shaw’s hear by telling Fanny that children are never too old to kiss their parents. There are temptations along the way, and Polly regrets spending the $10 she has brought to get gift for her family on a pair of bronze boots for herself. When her visit is over, the Shaws are sad to see her go, but have new insight into their lives.

This story appeared in a magazine, and Alcott got so many letters about Polly’s fate that she added more to the story. Set six years later, we see how the young people have grown up. Fanny has slid back into her petty and trivial ways, Tom is engaged to a calculating minx named Trix, and Maud would rather make messes in the kitchen than worry about her lessons. Polly arrives in town to teach music lessons, in order to put her brother Will through college, and is too proud to stay with the Shaws. She does spend a lot of time with them, and continues to show them “the sunny side of poverty and work”. She enlighten’s Fanny’s sewing society, and spends time with her neighbor, the elderly Miss Mills, who engages in a lot of social work. Sometimes the privations of her life make Polly cranky, and she briefly entertains the idea of marrying the very kind Mr. Sydney, but he is so well to do that she can’t imagine her life with him. She is rather fond of Tom, but it isn’t until Mr. Shaw goes bankrupt that the two feel that their romance is a possibility. Polly helps Fanny and Maud adjust to their new reality with helpful hints on running a household, and she and Tom get ready to embark on a life of their own.