Little Women "Rob" Bhaer and Theodore "Teddy" Bhaer. Jo also writes the first part of "Little Women" during the second portion of the novel. According to Elbert, "her narration signals a successfully completed adolescence". Beth, 13 when the story starts, is described as kind, gentle, sweet, shy, quiet and musical. She is the shyest March sister. Infused with quiet wisdom, she is the peacemaker of the family and gently scolds her sisters when they argue. As her sisters grow up, they begin to leave home, but Beth has no desire to leave her house or family. She is especially close to Jo:
Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross asked two local women – Pauline LaPlante ( - 1926) and Christine Rousseau ( - 1900) – to come home from their formation with the Dominican Order in Racine, Wisconsin, (about 150 miles south), to teach and provide medical care to the Belgian residents. Sisters LaPlante and Rousseau accepted Father Daems' request. With the help of Sister Pius Doyle and Mary Van Lanen, a neighboring farm girl, the four women became the religious community's founding members. In 1881, the women were officially recognized as a diocesan community by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin, which marked 1868 as