`` Oh , thank you ! It must be so nice to have pocket money ! I 'll have a grand feast , for I have n't tasted a lime this week . I felt delicate about taking any , as I could n't return them , and I 'm actually suffering for one . '' Next day Amy was rather late at school , but could not resist the temptation of displaying , with pardonable pride , a moist brown-paper parcel , before she consigned it to the inmost recesses of her desk . During the next few minutes the rumor that Amy March had got twenty-four delicious limes -LRB- she ate one on the way -RRB- and was going to treat circulated through her ` set ' , and the attentions of her friends became quite overwhelming . Katy Brown invited her to her next party on the spot . Mary Kinglsey insisted on lending her her watch till recess , and Jenny Snow , a satirical young lady , who had basely twitted Amy upon her limeless state , promptly buried the hatchet and offered to furnish answers to certain appalling sums . But Amy had not forgotten Miss Snow 's cutting remarks about ` some persons whose noses were not too flat to smell other people 's limes , and stuck-up people who were not too proud to ask for them ' , and she instantly crushed ` that Snow girl 's ' hopes by the withering telegram , `` You need n't be so polite all of a sudden , for you wo n't get any . '' A distinguished personage happened to visit the school that morning , and Amy 's beautifully drawn maps received praise , which honor to her foe rankled in the soul of Miss Snow , and caused Miss March to assume the airs of a studious young peacock . But , alas , alas ! Pride goes before a fall , and the revengeful Snow turned the tables with disastrous success . No sooner had the guest paid the usual stale compliments and bowed himself out , than Jenny , under pretense of asking an important question , informed Mr. Davis , the teacher , that Amy March had pickled limes in her desk . Now Mr. Davis had declared limes a contraband article , and solemnly vowed to publicly ferrule the first person who was found breaking the law . This much-enduring man had succeeded in banishing chewing gum after a long and stormy war , had made a bonfire of the confiscated novels and newspapers , had suppressed a private post office , had forbidden distortions of the face , nicknames , and caricatures , and done all that one man could do to keep half a hundred rebellious girls in order . Boys are trying enough to human patience , goodness knows , but girls are infinitely more so , especially to nervous gentlemen with tyrannical tempers and no more talent for teaching than Dr. Blimber . Mr. Davis knew any quantity of Greek , Latin , algebra , and ologies of all sorts so he was called a fine teacher , and manners , morals , feelings , and examples were not considered of any particular importance . It was a most unfortunate moment for denouncing Amy , and Jenny knew it . Mr. Davis had evidently taken his coffee too strong that morning , there was an east wind , which always affected his neuralgia , and his pupils had not done him the credit which he felt he deserved . Therefore , to use the expressive , if not elegant , language of a schoolgirl , `` He was as nervous as a witch and as cross as a bear '' .
The word ` limes ' was like fire to powder , his yellow face flushed , and he rapped on his desk with an energy which made XXXXX skip to her seat with unusual rapidity .
Amy Blimber Brown Greek Jenny Snow caricatures minutes morning recesses