life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose.

When kindness has left people, even for a few moments, we become afraid of them, as if their reason had left them.

Yet the summer which was to change everything was coming nearer every day. When boys and girls are growing up, life can't stand still, not even in the quietest of country towns; and they have to grow up, whether they will or no. That is what their elders are always forgetting.

In little towns, lives roll along so close to one another; loves and hates beat about, their wings almost touching.

Even the wicked get worse than they deserve.

Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen.

The two friends stood for a few moments on the windy street corner, not speaking a word, as two travelers, who have lost their way, sometimes stand and admit their perplexity in silence. (O Pioneers!)