Alcohol is mentioned again when the groundskeeper at Misselthwaite manor, Ben Weatherstaff, talks about another man being "drunk as a lord" and beating his wife. With no one to care for her, Mary becomes thirsty, drinks an abandoned glass of wine from her parents' dining table, and goes to sleep. Early in the novel, Mary's parents and many servants in the household die of cholera, leaving 10-year-old Mary alone. Mary also takes an unkind, superior attitude toward servants and recalls losing her temper and slapping her Ayah (Indian nursemaid). Indians are referred to as "natives" and "blacks," and Mary is angry and insulted when she's compared to them. That said, it includes some racist ideas about class, colonization, and Indian people. For generations, this 1909 novel has inspired a love of nature and simple pleasures in young readers. Friendship and the restorative powers of nature help the children gain good spirits and health. Parents need to know that Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden is a beautifully written book about two selfish, disagreeable English cousins - Mary and Colin - whose lives and dispositions are transformed when they find their way into a locked, walled garden.
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