For quiet, solitary and observant children create their own world and live in it, nourishing their imaginations on the material at hand.

There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you.

Sunday, January 27, 1884. -- There was another story in the paper a week or so since. A gentleman had a favourite cat whom he taught to sit at the dinner table where it behaved very well. He was in the habit of putting any scraps he left onto the cat's plate. One day puss did not take his place punctually, but presently appeared with two mice, one of which it placed on its master's plate, the other on its own.

It sometimes happens that the town child is more alive to the fresh beauty of the country than a child who is country born

What heaven can be more real than to retain the spirit-world of childhood?

What we call the highest and the lowest in nature are both equally perfect. A willow bush is as beautiful as the human form divine.

Peter was not very well during the evening. His mother put him to bed, and made some chamomile tea: "One table-spoonful to be taken at bedtime.