Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/462

 436 FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS. [1861,

at present, perhaps, the most successful man in the town. He had his second annual exhibition of all the schools in the town, at the Town Hall last Saturday; at which all the masters and misses did themselves great credit, as I hear, and of course reflected some on their teachers and parents. They were making their little speeches from one till six o clock*?. M., to a large audience, which patiently listened to the end. In the mean while, the children made Mr. Alcott an unexpected present of a fine edition of &quot;Pilgrim s Progress&quot; and &quot;Herbert s Poems,&quot; which, of course, overcame all parties. I inclose an Order of Exercises. 1

We had, last night, an old-fashioned north east snow-storm, far worse than anything in the winter ; and the drifts are now very high above the fences. The inhabitants are pretty much confined to their houses, as I was already. All houses are one color, white, with the snow plas-

1 In April, 1859, Mr. Alcott was chosen superintendent of the public schools of Concord, by a school committee of which Mr. Bull, the creator of the Concord grape, and Mr. Sanborn, were members, and for some years he directed the studies of the younger pupils, to their great benefit and delight. At the yearly &quot; exhibitions,&quot; songs were sung composed by Louisa Alcott and others, and the whole town assembled to see and hear. The stress of civil war gradually checked this idyllic movement, and Mr. Alcott returned to his garden and library. It was two years after this that Miss Alcott had her severe experience as hospital nurse at Washington.