Marmee-isms ~#14~ Watch & Pray

"It's my dreadful temper! I try to cure it; I think I have, & then it breaks out worse than ever. O Marmee, what shall I do? What shall I do?" cried Jo, in despair.

"Watch & pray, dear; never get tired of trying; & never think it is impossible to conquer your fault," said Mrs. March, drawing the blowzy head to her shoulder, & kissing the wet cheek so tenderly that Jo cried harder than ever.

"You don't know, you can't guess how bad it is! It seems as if I could do anything when I'm in a passion; I get so savage, I could hurt any one, & enjoy it. I'm afraid I shall do something dreadful some day, & spoil my life, & make everybody hate me. O Marmee, help me, do help me!"

"I will, my child, I will. Don't cry so bitterly, but remember this day, & resolve, with all y our soul, that you will never know another like it. Jo, dear, we all have our temptations, some far greater than yours, & it often takes us all our lives to conquer them. You think your temper is the worst int he world; but mine used to be just like it."

"Yours, Marmee? Why, you are never angry!" and, for the moment Jo forgot remorse in surprise.

"I've been trying to cure it for 40 years, & have only succeeded in controlling it. I am angry nearly every day of my life, Jo; but I have learned not to show it; & I still hope to learn not to feel it, thought it may take another 40 years to do so."

The patience & the humility of the face she loved so well was a better lesson to Jo than the wisest lecture, the sharpest reproof. She felt comforted at once by the sympathy & confidence given her; the knowledge that her own mother had a fault like hers, & tried to mend it, made her own easier to bear & strengthened her resolution to cure it; though 40 years seemed rather a long time to watch & pray, to a girl of 15.

Little Women ~ Ch. 8

Blessings from Ohio . . . Kim<><