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"Remember Glencoe...Remember Glencoe...Remember Glencoe" kept rolling around in my mind when I began to read Eight Cousins and realized that it chronicled the lives of a group of Campbells. Why "Glencoe?" Many centuries ago, locked in a bitter feud, the McDonalds and the Campbells had been warring for decades--maybe even centuries. In an apparent attempt at reconciliation, the Campbells extended a friendly invitation to the McDonalds: "Come join us at Glencoe for a barbeque." The McDonalds, whether battle-weary, curious, or just eager for a free meal, accepted. Unfortunately, at this "barbeque," the only creatures butchered and burned were the McDonalds.
In the intervening centuries, the Campbells appear to have become much better hosts. The Campbells of Eight Cousins read Sir Walter Scott, sport highland dress, and welcome new arrivals with skirl of bagpipes. One clan member, Bonnie Charlie, nicknamed "Prince" by his cousins, relates to newly-arrived and newly-orphaned cousin Rose, "So we hunted up the old stories, got a bagpipe, put on our plaids, and went in, heart and soul, for the glory of the Clan."
Eight Cousins is a series of vignettes that illustrate the affection of the cousins and their parents, aunts, and uncles for each other. The tales demonstrate that family members can disagree with, and even disappoint, each other yet still hold each other in the highest regard. Rather than a series of conflicts or problems to solve, the novel tells about the ways in which the family works things out before they become conflicts. In spite of its dearth of conflict or challenge, however, the novel does come through with many amusing and satisfying stories.
Author Louisa May Alcott's father, Amos Bronson Alcott, was a noted Transcendentalist, and in Eight Cousins one can clearly perceive reformist thought and the dichotomy between intuition and conventional wisdom. Rose's new guardian, her uncle Alec Campbell, frequently squares off against a horde of aunts who would prefer that Rose confine herself to women's pursuits and dress accordingly. Alcott wages a virtual campaign against corsets and high-heeled shoes. With the former, she may have been successful. Alas, the current ascendance of Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin demonstrate that she probably failed with the latter.
A more noble campaign of Alcott's was to raise awareness of the need for young women to train for a career. Uncle Alec encourages Rose to select a line of work and begin training for it, although he would be just as pleased with her selection of housekeeping as he would be with her selection of chemistry or medicine. Rose spends time dabbling in all three and even interesting her near-sighted cousin, Mac, in the scientific endeavors.
While Rose is enjoying the solicitous attentions of her new guardian, her seven male cousins contend with their mothers' insistence that reading novels (Sir Walter Scott included) is just as bad for young boys as smoking cigars, and both should be stopped post haste. Their mothers, well-meaning but perhaps deluded, want only the best for their sons but unfortunately do not quite know how to achieve it. Their delusion is complicated by the fact that Mac has severe problems with this vision; a condition that his mother is convinced was brought on by reading too much.
Uncle Alec's forward-thinking was not limited to career and fashion. He was also aware of the Placebo Effect. Realizing that Rose's aunts were not going to be satisfied with dropping the "tonics" that they were regularly feeding Rose, he took bread, balled it up into pills, and told the aunts that, in lieu of tonics, they could feed to Rose as many of these pills as they thought were necessary. Of course, the Placebo Effect was for the aunts' benefit as well as Rose's, for Uncle Alec had already let Rose in on the ruse. Thus, Rose and Alec embark upon a mission to transform the Aunts' thinking, mostly through good example. But, failing that, through whatever (harmless) means is necessary.
This has been my favorite of LMA's books since about the age of 12. It helped ME to deal with the problem of being so different from my schoolmates due to health problems. And it showed me that daring to be different can be a good thing.
Am going to pass it on to my granddaughter this summer, to read it again with her.
I love your working the Massacre of Glencoe (which I didn't know about until about 30 years after I first read Eight Cousins) into this piece. As a fellow Scotophile, Highland Games, kilts & bagpipes set my toes to tapping, too.
Thanks, Eve! How wonderful that you are passing your favorite books on to your granddaughter. I believe a love of reading passed from one generation to another is one of the best legacies a person can create.
I'm glad you like the "Campbell vs. McDonald" inclusion. I must admit that we not only have friends that are Campbells, but now even relatives. I love to hold on to the Glencoe story, however, because our family loves Scottish history.
Joyce, have you ever attended the Stone Mtn. Scottish Games near Atlanta? It takes place the 3rd weekend in October each year & has hundreds of clan tents, pipe & drum competitions, harpers, countra dancing, heavy events, etc. Well worth the trip!
That sounds delightful! We keep talking about getting back to our Scottish roots (I'm a McIntyre) and never seem to find the time. We even have a mini-Highland Games here in San Antonio. We went to Stone Mountain several years ago, but it was in September. Must have just missed it! Thanks for the Heads-Up!