`` You have all done more for me than I can ever thank you for , except by doing my best not to disappoint you . You have rather cast me off lately , Jo , but I 've had the best of help , nevertheless . So , if I 've got on at all , you may thank these two for it , '' and he laid one hand gently on his grandfather 's head , and the other on Amy 's golden one , for the three were never far apart . `` I do think that families are the most beautiful things in all the world ! '' burst out Jo , who was in an unusually up-lifted frame of mind just then . `` When I have one of my own , I hope it will be as happy as the three I know and love the best . If John and my Fritz were only here , it would be quite a little heaven on earth , '' she added more quietly . And that night when she went to her room after a blissful evening of family counsels , hopes , and plans , her heart was so full of happiness that she could only calm it by kneeling beside the empty bed always near her own , and thinking tender thoughts of Beth . It was a very astonishing year altogether , for things seemed to happen in an unusually rapid and delightful manner . Almost before she knew where she was , Jo found herself married and settled at Plumfield . Then a family of six or seven boys sprung up like mushrooms , and flourished surprisingly , poor boys as well as rich , for Mr. Laurence was continually finding some touching case of destitution , and begging the Bhaers to take pity on the child , and he would gladly pay a trifle for its support . In this way , the sly old gentleman got round proud Jo , and furnished her with the style of boy in which she most delighted . Of course it was uphill work at first , and Jo made queer mistakes , but the wise Professor steered her safely into calmer waters , and the most rampant ragamuffin was conquered in the end . How Jo did enjoy her ` wilderness of boys ' , and how poor , dear Aunt March would have lamented had she been there to see the sacred precincts of prim , well-ordered Plumfield overrun with Toms , Dicks , and Harrys ! There was a sort of poetic justice about it , after all , for the old lady had been the terror of the boys for miles around , and now the exiles feasted freely on forbidden plums , kicked up the gravel with profane boots unreproved , and played cricket in the big field where the irritable ` cow with a crumpled horn ' used to invite rash youths to come and be tossed . It became a sort of boys ' paradise , and Laurie suggested that it should be called the ` Bhaer-garten ' , as a compliment to its master and appropriate to its inhabitants . It never was a fashionable school , and the Professor did not lay up a fortune , but it was just what Jo intended it to be -- ' a happy , homelike place for boys , who needed teaching , care , and kindness ' . Every room in the big house was soon full . Every little plot in the garden soon had its owner . A regular menagerie appeared in barn and shed , for pet animals were allowed .
And three times a day , XXXXX smiled at her Fritz from the head of a long table lined on either side with rows of happy young faces , which all turned to her with affectionate eyes , confiding words , and grateful hearts , full of love for ` Mother Bhaer ' .
Bhaers Fritz Jo John Toms destitution night plums ragamuffin year