One day, as Nelly sits with her mother, she is inspired. Witnessing her brother Will go to fight in the Civil War and return injured, Nelly aspires to work as a nurse in one of the hospitals, ministering to the hurt and fighting soldiers. However, since she is young and clumsy, she needs practice.
With a loving heart, Nelly asks her mother if she can establish a hospital of her own, so that she can practice, to help the soldiers. Her hospital, she explains, will aid all the suffering and injured animals nearby.
Nelly’s mother gives her some maternal advice and approves her plan as a “proper charity.” Elated, Nelly makes preparations for her hospital.
Lots to Care For
The next morning, little Nelly sets out with her ambulance to find any needy creatures around her house and in the forest. On her journey she finds a fly stuck in a web, which she frees and places in her ambulance. Then she discovers and rescues a fuzzy caterpillar in the path, which refuses to move. And, after the caterpillar, she saves a beetle, which keeps rolling onto its back.She carries on until she is shocked to find a little gray snake along the path, injured with a bruised tail. This creature gives Nelly pause, for she does not really favor snakes, and views this little one as a rebel. And yet, she recalls Will’s stories of rebels in the hospital with him.
This snake, she reasons, is indeed a rebel and her enemy. Nevertheless, she says to herself: “It says, too, in my little book, ‘Love your enemies.’ I think snakes are mine, but I guess I'll try and love him because God made him.” She picks him up and places him with her other patients.
After collecting a few other animals, Nelly takes them all home to care for them. Though she does have to bury a few of the animals, the snake included, she is grateful that they knew kindness and hopes it made them happy.
In this story, Alcott shows that there is immense wisdom in the workings of a child. Indeed, children often find more wisdom and knowledge in their simple, kind acts than many poets or philosophers will ever grasp.
She shows, as J.R.R. Tolkien says in “The Hobbit”: “I have found that it is the small everyday deed of ordinary folks that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”
Every day we battle our own dragons, but when we show kindness to others in their battles, we bring harmony and caring to everyone in the world we live in.
Like Nelly, we should aspire to touch and inspire everyone around us, especially those we dislike, with even just a little kindness. For the little and simple kindnesses are crucial, and go a long way.
