"Alcott, Louisa May - Little Women - March Family 01 - Little Women" - читать интересную книгу автора (Alcott Louisa May)

"Hurry and get done! Don't stop to quirk your little finger and simper
over your plate, Amy," cried Jo, choking on her tea and dropping her bread,
butter side down, on the carpet in her haste to get at the treat.

Beth ate no more, but crept away to sit in her shadowy corner and
brood over the delight to come, till the others were ready.

"I think it was so splendid in Father to go as chaplain when he was
too old to be drafted, and not strong enough for a soldier," said Meg
warmly.

"Don't I wish I could go as a drummer, a vivan -- mdash; what's its
name? Or a nurse, so I could be near him and help him," exclaimed Jo, with
a groan.

"It must be very disagreeable to sleep in a tent, and eat all sorts of
bad-tasting things, and drink out of a tin mug," sighed Amy.

"When will he come home, Marmee? asked Beth, with a little quiver in
her voice.

"Not for many months, dear, unless he is sick. He will stay and do his
work faithfully as long as he can, and we won't ask for him back a minute
sooner than he can be spared. Now come and hear the letter."

They all drew to the fire, Mother in the big chair with Beth at her
feet, Meg and Amy perched on either arm of the chair, and Jo leaning on the
back, where no one would see any sign of emotion if the letter should
happen to be touching. Very few letters were written in those hard times
that were not touching, especially those which fathers sent home. In this
one little was said of the hardships endured, the dangers faced, or the
homesickness conquered. It was a cheerful, hopeful letter, full of lively
descriptions of camp life, marches, and military news, and only at the end
did the writer's heart over-flow with fatherly love and longing for the
little girls at home.

" Give them all of my dear love and a kiss. Tell them I think of them
by day, pray for them by night, and find my best comfort in their affection
at all times. A year seems very long to wait before I see them, but remind
them that while we wait we may all work, so that these hard days need not
be wasted. I know they will remember all I said to them, that they will be
loving children to you, will do their duty faithfully, fight their bosom
enemies bravely, and conquer themselves so beautifully that when I come
back to them I may be fonder and prouder than ever of my little women."

Everybody sniffed when they came to that part. Jo wasn't ashamed of
the great tear that dropped off the end of her nose, and Amy never minded
the rumpling of her curls as she hid her face on her mother's shoulder and
sobbed out, "I am a selfish girl! But I'll truly try to be better, so he
mayn't be disappointed in me by-and-by."