Chapter 47: Harvest Time

Summary

Jo works and waits for a year while the professor fulfills his teaching obligation. After they are married they take up residence at Plumfield, the mansion willed to Jo by Aunt March. There Jo opens a school for boys.

The Bhaer school at last gives the Laurences opportunity to spend their wealth for a worthy cause. They have a knack for finding boys who need the attention of the boysÂ’ home, and they always insist on paying "a trifle" for the support of the ones they send. Within five years of JoÂ’s marriage, the BhaerÂ’s have a lively home full of noisy boys, including two of their own.

AmyÂ’s one shadow is that her only child is a frail little girl whom she fears losing, but Mrs. March encourages her to be hopeful. The story ends with the family all together-minus Beth-but with the addition of well-loved husbands and grandchildren.

The theme of true riches is nicely wrapped up in this final chapter. It is interesting that the one sister who succeeded in marrying rich is also burdened with an additional heartache in the form of a frail child. JoÂ’s home for boys creates the possibility of a sequel which LMA wrote later and was titled JoÂ’s Boys.

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