Little Women Summary & ending explained

"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, stretched out on the rug.

Nobody argued. Meg looked down at her faded dress. Amy sniffed that some girls had everything and others had nothing. Only Beth, in her corner with the kitten, said softly that they still had Mother, and Father, and each other.

"Father's not here, though," Jo said. "And he won't be for ages."

Nobody said the rest of it. Father was a chaplain with the Union army, somewhere far south where the fighting was, and every letter might be the last.

Mother had asked them to skip presents that winter. Things were hard, the soldiers were suffering, and the March family had been poor ever since Father lost his money helping a friend. But each girl had one dollar of her own. Jo wanted a book. Beth wanted new music. Amy wanted drawing pencils. Meg wanted everything.

Then Beth noticed Marmee's slippers warming by the fire, worn through at the heels. One by one, the dollars changed purpose. Gloves, slippers, a handkerchief, a little bottle of cologne. All for Marmee.

On Christmas morning, before they could eat, Mother came in from the cold with news. A few streets away, a German widow named Mrs. Hummel lay in a freezing room with six children and nothing in the house.

"Will you give them your breakfast, girls?"

There was one long, hungry pause. Then Jo stood up and grabbed the plate of buns. "Come on. Before I change my mind."

They carried the buns and the cream through the snow and fed the Hummels in a room with broken windows, and walked home laughing on empty stomachs. That night, a feast appeared on their table: ice cream, cake, flowers, sweets. It came from old Mr. Laurence, the rich, gruff neighbor in the big stone house next door.

Jo pressed her nose to the frosty window and looked across at that house. Somewhere inside it lived Mr. Laurence's grandson, a dark-eyed boy who watched their noisy home every evening, alone.

She decided then and there to meet him.