PART 1
1. CHAPTER ONE
(continued)
They all drew to the fire, Mother in the big chair with Beth
at her feet, Meg and Amy perched on either arm of the chair, and
Jo leaning on the back, where no one would see any sign of emotion
if the letter should happen to be touching. Very few letters were
written in those hard times that were not touching, especially
those which fathers sent home. In this one little was said of the
hardships endured, the dangers faced, or the homesickness conquered.
It was a cheerful, hopeful letter, full of lively descriptions
of camp life, marches, and military news, and only at the end
did the writer's heart over-flow with fatherly love and longing
for the little girls at home.
"Give them all of my dear love and a kiss. Tell them I think
of them by day, pray for them by night, and find my best comfort
in their affection at all times. A year seems very long to wait
before I see them, but remind them that while we wait we may all
work, so that these hard days need not be wasted. I know they will
remember all I said to them, that they will be loving children to
you, will do their duty faithfully, fight their bosom enemies bravely,
and conquer themselves so beautifully that when I come back to them
I may be fonder and prouder than ever of my little women."
Everybody sniffed when they came to that part. Jo wasn't
ashamed of the great tear that dropped off the end of her nose, and
Amy never minded the rumpling of her curls as she hid her face on
her mother's shoulder and sobbed out, "I am a selfish girl! But
I'll truly try to be better, so he mayn't be disappointed in me
by-and-by."
We all will," cried Meg. "I think too much of my looks and
hate to work, but won't any more, if I can help it."
"I'll try and be what he loves to call me, `a little woman'
and not be rough and wild, but do my duty here instead of wanting
to be somewhere else," said Jo, thinking that keeping her temper
at home was a much harder task than facing a rebel or two down South.
|