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“JACK & JILL”

Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, the second of four sisters. At an early age, Louisa and her family moved to Massachusetts, where she lived for most of her life. Her father was a teacher, and he encouraged Louisa to keep a diary. She started to write at the age of 16. Alcott used her diary to help her write about her own life and experiences. One of her most famous books is Little Women, which is based on the life of her family. She wrote Jack & Jill: A Village Story in 1880. Alcott has been called the ‘novelist of children’ for her ability to reflect the teenage point of view. Jack and Jill tells the story of life in rural New England at the turn of the century. It tells of how the friendship between the two main characters is tested by a terrible accident. With the help of their friends and family, they put their bad luck behind them and get on with their lives.
“Jack & Jill. Chapter 1. The Catastrophe”
“Clear the lulla!” was the general cry on a bright December afternoon, when all the boys and girls of Harmony Village were out enjoying the first good snow of the season. Up and down three long coasts they went as fast as legs and sleds could carry them. One smooth path led into the meadow, and here the little folk congregated; there was a group of lads and lasses sitting or leaning on a fence to rest after an exciting race, and, as they reposed, they amused themselves with criticising their mates.
“Here comes Frank Minot, looking as solemn as a judge,” cried one, as a tall fellow of sixteen spun by, with a set look about the mouth and a keen sparkle of the eyes, fixed on the distant goal with a do-or-die expression.
“Here’s Molly Loo and Little Boo,” sang out another; and down came a girl with flying hair, carrying a small boy behind her, so fat that his short legs stuck out from the sides, and his round face looked over her shoulder like a full moon.
“There’s Gus Burton; doesn’t he go it?” and such a very long boy whizzed by, that it looked almost as if his heels were at the top of the hill when his head was at the bottom!
“Hurrah for Ed Devlin!” and a general shout greeted a sweet-faced lad with a laugh on his lips, a fine colour on his brown cheek, and a gay word for every girl he passed.
“Laura and Lotty keep to the safe coast into the meadow, and Molly Loo is the only girl that dares to try this long one to the pond. I wouldn’t for the world; the ice can’t be strong yet, though it is cold enough to freeze one’s nose off,” said a timid damsel, who sat hugging a post and screaming whenever a mischievous lad shook the fence.
“No, she isn’t. Here is Jack and Jill going like furry.”
“Clear the track for jolly Jack!” sang the boys, who had rhymes and nicknames for nearly everyone.
Down came a gay red sled, bearing a boy who seemed all smile and sunshine, so white were his teeth, so golden was his hair, so bright and happy his whole air. Behind him clung a girl, with black eyes and hair, cheeks as red as her hood, and a face full of fun and sparkle, as she waved Jack’s blue tippet like a banner with one hand, and held on with the other.
“Jill goes wherever Jack does, and he lets her. He’s such a good-natured chap, he can’t say No.”
“To a girl,” slyly added one of the boys, who had wished to borrow the red sled, and had been politely refused because Jill wanted it.
“He’s the nicest boy in the world, for he never gets mad,” said the timid young lady, recalling the many times Jack had shielded her from the terrors which beset her path to school, in the shape of cows, dogs, and boys who made faces and called her ‘Fraidcat’.
“He doesn’t dare to get mad with Jill, for she’d take his head off in two minutes if he did,” growled Joe Flint.
“She wouldn’t! She’s a dear! You needn’t sniff at her because she is poor. She’s ever so much brighter than you are, or she wouldn’t always be at the head of your class, old Joe,” cried the girls, standing by their friend with a unanimity which proved what a favourite she was.
Joe subsided with as scornful a curl to his nose as its chilly state permitted, and Merry Grant introduced a subject of general interest by asking abruptly, “Who is going to the candy-scrape tonight?”
“All of us, Frank invited the whole set, and we shall have a tiptop time. We always do at the Minots,” cried Sue, the timid trembler.
“Jack said there was a barrel of molasses in the house, so there would be enough for all to eat and some to carry away. They know how to do things handsomely”, and the speaker licked his lips, as if already tasting the feast in store for him.
“Mrs Minot is a mother worth having,” said Molly Loo, coming up with Boo on the sled, and she knew what it was to need a mother, for she had none, and tried to care for the little brother with maternal love and patience.
“She is just as sweet as she can be!” declared Merry, enthusiastically.

1. How did Alcott start writing?
2. What were the children doing in the story?
3. What are ‘lads and lasses’?
4. What kind of person is Jack?
5. Why does he care for Jill?