And that's where the whole trouble is. We're too much alike to understand each other because we don't even understand our own selves.

I'll not punish you for having an imagination.

Oh, magic hour, when a child first knows she can read printed words.

In teaching your child, do not forget that suffering is good too. It makes a person rich in character.

Those were the Rommely women: Mary, the mother, Evy, Sissy, and Katie, her daughters, and Francie, who would grow up to be a Rommely woman even though her name was Nolan. They were all slender, frail creatures with wondering eyes and soft fluttery voices. But they were made out of thin invisible steel.

And always, there was the magic of learning things.

As she read, at peace with the world and happy as only a little girl could be with a fine book and a little bowl of candy, and all alone in the house, the leaf shadows shifted and the afternoon passed.