“The Cross on the Old Church Tower” by Louisa May Alcott

This short story is appropriate for all readers, although the very young will not be able to read it on their own. The simple truth about applying the gospel encourages even advanced readers. I found it online at this link: http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/bookid.2582/sec./ Louisa May Alcott tells the story of Jamie, a young crippled boy whose faith in the cross brings hope to a despairing author. Although the setting may seem unrealistic—most readers do not face poverty, sickness, and hunger as these characters do—, the story nevertheless demonstrates how the cross provokes patience, endurance, self-sacrifice, and service in the hearts of those who love the Savior.

“Poor Jamie” is the central example of these characteristics. As such, he is a nearly perfect character. Alcott avoids giving him credit for this perfection by always pointing from his self-giving attitude to the cross which he turns to in order to find strength to persevere. He tells Walter, the author, "It does me so much good, sir. Bess told me long ago about the blessed Jesus who bore so much for us, and I longed to be as like him as a little child could grow.”

The cross is used throughout the story to help Walter fight temptation: he is tempted to do wrong for the sake of right, to be selfish, and to complain, yet he is always deterred. The memory of Jamie, who began their friendship by pointing Walter to the cross, urges him to do right. Walter is also reminded to do right by the presence of the church tower over the city. “I felt how weak, how wicked I had been, and was not ashamed to learn of you the lesson you so unconsciously were teaching,” he tells Jamie. He is continuously able to choose against his hopes for himself, because he remembers Jamie and the cross that the boy loves so much. “At heart, he felt a better, happier man for the stern discipline that taught him the beauty of self-denial and the blessedness of loving his neighbor better than himself.” Thus, Alcott shows the reader that living a cross-centered life encourages others to look to Jesus for the strength to right.

The only phrase which concerned me in this story occurs when Walter considers stealing in order to supply Jamie and his sister with food. Alcott states that he was about to commit “his first evil deed.” Because of the sinful nature of man, it is impossible that Walter has not committed any evil deed previously. In fact, earlier in the story, Walter considers suicide, another evil deed. As young readers question this phrase, or even if they do not, some clarification is necessary. Probably the children should be directly told that Alcott is wrong—Walter has sinned at some point previously in his life.

Even if Alcott believes that man can live without committing sin, I do not think her wrong belief affects the story in other ways. If her characters are sinless in her mind, they need not be in the reader’s mind. Because the reader is aware that all men sin, he can assume that the sin simply is not shown. Alcott is demonstrating the positive effects of the cross, not the negative, in this story. Also, because she consistently points to the cross while demonstrating its effects in her characters, Jesus receives all glory for their right decisions and attitudes.