Like most young scribblers , she went abroad for her characters and scenery , and banditti , counts , gypsies , nuns , and duchesses appeared upon her stage , and played their parts with as much accuracy and spirit as could be expected . Her readers were not particular about such trifles as grammar , punctuation , and probability , and Mr. Dashwood graciously permitted her to fill his columns at the lowest prices , not thinking it necessary to tell her that the real cause of his hospitality was the fact that one of his hacks , on being offered higher wages , had basely left him in the lurch . She soon became interested in her work , for her emaciated purse grew stout , and the little hoard she was making to take Beth to the mountains next summer grew slowly but surely as the weeks passed . One thing disturbed her satisfaction , and that was that she did not tell them at home . She had a feeling that Father and Mother would not approve , and preferred to have her own way first , and beg pardon afterward . It was easy to keep her secret , for no name appeared with her stories . Mr. Dashwood had of course found it out very soon , but promised to be dumb , and for a wonder kept his word . She thought it would do her no harm , for she sincerely meant to write nothing of which she would be ashamed , and quieted all pricks of conscience by anticipations of the happy minute when she should show her earnings and laugh over her well-kept secret . But Mr. Dashwood rejected any but thrilling tales , and as thrills could not be produced except by harrowing up the souls of the readers , history and romance , land and sea , science and art , police records and lunatic asylums , had to be ransacked for the purpose . Jo soon found that her innocent experience had given her but few glimpses of the tragic world which underlies society , so regarding it in a business light , she set about supplying her deficiencies with characteristic energy . Eager to find material for stories , and bent on making them original in plot , if not masterly in execution , she searched newspapers for accidents , incidents , and crimes . She excited the suspicions of public librarians by asking for works on poisons . She studied faces in the street , and characters , good , bad , and indifferent , all about her . She delved in the dust of ancient times for facts or fictions so old that they were as good as new , and introduced herself to folly , sin , and misery , as well as her limited opportunities allowed . She thought she was prospering finely , but unconsciously she was beginning to desecrate some of the womanliest attributes of a woman 's character . She was living in bad society , and imaginary though it was , its influence affected her , for she was feeding heart and fancy on dangerous and unsubstantial food , and was fast brushing the innocent bloom from her nature by a premature acquaintance with the darker side of life , which comes soon enough to all of us . She was beginning to feel rather than see this , for much describing of other people 's passions and feelings set her to studying and speculating about her own , a morbid amusement in which healthy young minds do not voluntarily indulge . Wrongdoing always brings its own punishment , and when Jo most needed hers , she got it . I do n't know whether the study of Shakespeare helped her to read character , or the natural instinct of a woman for what was honest , brave , and strong , but while endowing her imaginary heroes with every perfection under the sun , Jo was discovering a live hero , who interested her in spite of many human imperfections . Mr. Bhaer , in one of their conversations , had advised her to study simple , true , and lovely characters , wherever she found them , as good training for a writer .
XXXXX took him at his word , for she coolly turned round and studied him -- a proceeding which would have much surprised him , had he known it , for the worthy Professor was very humble in his own conceit .
Dashwood Father Jo Shakespeare asylums banditti duchesses execution fictions first