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

We all will," cried Meg. "I think too much of my looks and hate to
work, but won't any more, if I can help it."

"I'll try and be what he loves to call me, `a little woman' and not be
rough and wild, but do my duty here instead of wanting to be somewhere
else," said Jo, thinking that keeping her temper at home was a much harder
task than facing a rebel or two down South.

Beth said nothing, but wiped away her tears with the blue army sock
and began to knit with all her might, losing no time in doing the duty that
lay nearest her, while she resolved in her quiet little soul to be all that
Father hoped to find her when the year brought round the happy coming home.

Mrs. March broke the silence that followed Jo's words, by saying in
her cheery voice, "Do you remember how you used to play Pilgrims Progress
when you were little things? Nothing delighted you more than to have me tie
my piece bags on your backs for burdens, give you hats and sticks and rolls
of paper, and let you travel through the house from the cellar, which was
the City of Destruction, up, up, to the housetop, where you had all the
lovely things you could collect to make a Celestial City."

"What fun it was, especially going by the lions, fighting Apollyon,
and passing through the valley where the hob-goblins were," said Jo.

"I liked the place where the bundles fell off and tumbled downstairs,"
said Meg.

"I don't remember much about it, except that I was afraid of the
cellar and the dark entry, and always liked the cake and milk we had up at
the top. If I wasn't too old for such things, I'd rather like to play it
over again," said Amy, who began to talk of renouncing childish things at
the mature age of twelve.

"We never are too old for this, my dear, because it is a play we are
playing all the time in one way or another. Out burdens are here, our road
is before us, and the longing for goodness and happiness is the guide that
leads us through many troubles and mistakes to the peace which is a true
Celestial City. Now, my little pilgrims, suppose you begin again, not in
play, but in earnest, and see how far on you can get before Father comes
home."

"Really, Mother? Where are our bundles?" asked Amy, who was a very
literal young lady.

"Each of you told what your burden was just now, except Beth. I rather
think she hasn't got any," said her mother.

"Yes, I have. Mine is dishes and dusters, and envying girls with nice
pianos, and being afraid of people."