Now we are expected to be as wise as men who have had generations of all the help there is, and we scarcely anything.

Now and then, in this workaday world, things do happen in the delightful storybook fashion, and what a comfort that is.

Don't mind me. I'm as happy as a cricket here.

I think we are all hopelessly flawed.

You are like a chestnut burr, prickly outside, but silky-soft within, and a sweet kernel, if one can only get at it. Love will make you show your heart some day, and then the rough burr will fall off.

There are many Beths in the world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully that no one sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, leaving silence and shadow behind.

Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault.