Being Neighborly

"Being Neighborly" is an extract from Louisa May Alcott's celebrated novel 'Little Women' (1868). It centres on the four March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, who live with their wise and loving mother in a modest suburban home. Next door stands the stately stone mansion of the wealthy Mr. Laurence and his grandson, Laurie. The extract narrates how Jo, the boldest and liveliest sister, breaks the ice and begins a warm friendship with the lonely boy next door.

Jo notices the lonely boy next door

One snowy afternoon, while Meg toasts her feet and reads 'Ivanhoe', the restless, adventure-loving Jo goes out to dig paths in the garden. The garden separates the Marches' old, bare, brown house from the grand stone mansion of the Laurences. Though the mansion has every comfort and luxury, it seems a "lonely, lifeless" house where no children play and no motherly face smiles at the windows.

To Jo's lively fancy the fine house is an "enchanted palace, full of splendors and delights which no one enjoyed." She has long wished to know the Laurence boy, who looks as if he too wants to be known. Spotting his "wistful" brown face at an upper window, Jo decides "that boy is suffering for society and fun" and resolves to reach out.

Breaking the ice with a snowball

Seeing Mr. Laurence drive off, Jo tosses up a handful of soft snow to make Laurie look out. His listless face brightens at once. Through the open window they talk: Laurie has had a bad cold and been shut up for a week, bored, unable to read much, with no one lively to visit him. Jo cheerfully offers to come over herself, first asking her mother's permission.

She arrives "bag and baggage" with a covered dish of Meg's blanc-mange and Beth's three kittens. Laughing over the kittens, Laurie forgets his bashfulness and grows sociable at once. Jo briskly tidies his neglected room, brushing the hearth, straightening the mantelpiece, arranging books and plumping the pillows, giving it a warm, homely air.

A hungry heart and a warm home

As they talk, Laurie confesses that when alone he cannot help watching the Marches' cheerful family evenings through the window, especially Mrs. March's sweet face, for he has no mother of his own. The "solitary, hungry look" in his eyes goes straight to Jo's warm heart. Feeling how rich she is in home and happiness, she gladly invites him to come over, promising songs from Beth, dancing from Amy and jolly times together.

Laurie brightens and leads Jo through the summerlike house to his grandfather's magnificent library, lined with books, pictures, statues and curiosities. Jo is delighted, but reminds him that "a fellow can't live on books", what he truly lacks is warmth and company.

Meeting the gruff Mr. Laurence

Left alone before a fine portrait of the old gentleman, Jo frankly observes aloud that he has "kind eyes, though his mouth is grim," and that she likes him though he is not as handsome as her own grandfather. To her dismay, the real Mr. Laurence has been standing behind her and has heard everything.

Instead of being offended, the gruff old man is pleased by Jo's honesty and spirit. He declares she has her grandfather's spirit, praises her father's way of doing good, and invites her to tea, offering his arm with "old-fashioned courtesy" and telling her to "go on being neighborly." What began as a bold snowball ends in the warm beginning of a lasting friendship between two families.