Too Fond of Books
Have you seen the "Too Fond of Books" ornament with the quotation from Louisa May Alcott and wondered where the line is from? Thanks to Project Gutenberg, an online library of e-texts, the answer is: chapter 2 of a novel called Work: A Story of Experience. Here's an excerpt:
Mrs. Stuart, though in her most regal array, seemed to have left her ignity downstairs with her opera cloak, for with skirts gathered losely about her, tiara all askew, and face full of fear and anger, he stood upon a chair and scolded like any shrew.
The comic overpowered the tragic, and being a little hysterical with he sudden alarm, Christie broke into a peal of laughter that sealed er fate. Look at her! look at her!" cried Mrs. Stuart gesticulating on her erch as if about to fly. "She has been at the wine, or lost her its. She must go, Horatio, she must go! I cannot have my nerves hattered by such dreadful scenes.
She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain. Hepsey can watch her to-night, and at dawn she shall leave the house for ever."You can read this entire novel at:
Somewhere in this quotation's travels by word of mouth, "turned" changed to "addled", making it that much more elusive to track down.
Submitted by steve.poppino on Thu, 06/21/2007 - 5:25pm.
