I want a flesh-and-blood girl, not a sweet statue in a grey pinafore, who forgets everything but her work.' As he spoke, two dusty hands came round his neck, and Bess said earnestly, punctuating her words with soft touches of her lips: 'I never forget you, papa; but I do want to do something beautiful that you may be proud of me by and by.

Mamma often tells me to stop; but when we get in here we forget there is any world outside, we are so busy and so happy.

Now I'll go and run and sing, and be a girl to please you.' And throwing away the apron, Bess vanished from the room, seeming to take all the light with her.
'I'm glad you said that.

The dear child is too much absorbed in her artistic dreams for one so young.

It is my fault; but I sympathize so deeply in it all, I forget to be wise,' sighed Amy, carefully covering the baby with a wet towel.
'I think this power of living in our children is one of the sweetest things in the world; but I try to remember what Marmee once said to Meg--that fathers should have their share in the education of both girls and boys; so I leave Ted to his father all I can, and Fritz lends me Rob, whose quiet ways are as restful and good for me as Ted's tempests are for his father.