Marmee-isms ~#13~ Progress

Mrs. March [Marmee] broke the silence that followed Jo's words, by saying in her cheery voice, "Do you remember how you used to play Pilgrim's Progress when you were little things? Nothing delighted you more than to have me tie my piece-bags on your backs for burdens, give you hats & sticks & rolls of paper, & let you travel through the house from the cellar, which was the City of Destruction, up, up, to the house-top, where you had all the lovely things you could collect to make a Celestial City."

"What fun it was, especially by the lions, fighting Apollyon, & passing through the Valley where the hobgoblins were!" said Jo.

"I liked the place where the bundles fell off & tumbled downstairs," said Meg.

"My favorite part was when we came out on the flat roof where our flowers & arbors & pretty things were, & all stood & sand for joy up there in the sunshine," said Beth, smiling, as if that pleasant moment had come back to her" . . .

. . . "If I wasn't too old for such things, I'd rather like to play it over again," said Amy, who began to talk of renouncing childish things at the mature age of twelve.

"We never are too old for this, my dear," said Marmee, "because it is a play we are playing all the time in one way or another. Our burdens are here, our road is before us, & the longing for goodness & happiness is the guide that leads us through many troubles & mistakes to the peace which is the true Celestial City. Now, my little pilgrims, suppose you begin again, not in play, but in earnest, & see how far on your can get before father comes home."

Little Women ~ Ch. 1

Blessings from Ohio . . . Kim<><