I 'm going out to dinner and ca n't worry about things at home , '' said Mrs. March , when Jo spoke to her . `` I never enjoyed housekeeping , and I 'm going to take a vacation today , and read , write , go visiting , and amuse myself . '' The unusual spectacle of her busy mother rocking comfortably and reading early in the morning made Jo feel as if some unnatural phenomenon had occurred , for an eclipse , an earthquake , or a volcanic eruption would hardly have seemed stranger . `` Everything is out of sorts , somehow , '' she said to herself , going downstairs . `` There 's Beth crying , that 's a sure sign that something is wrong in this family . If Amy is bothering , I 'll shake her . '' Feeling very much out of sorts herself , Jo hurried into the parlor to find Beth sobbing over Pip , the canary , who lay dead in the cage with his little claws pathetically extended , as if imploring the food for want of which he had died . `` It 's all my fault , I forgot him , there is n't a seed or a drop left . Oh , Pip ! Oh , Pip ! How could I be so cruel to you ? '' cried Beth , taking the poor thing in her hands and trying to restore him . Jo peeped into his half-open eye , felt his little heart , and finding him stiff and cold , shook her head , and offered her domino box for a coffin . `` Put him in the oven , and maybe he will get warm and revive , '' said Amy hopefully . `` He 's been starved , and he sha n't be baked now he 's dead . I 'll make him a shroud , and he shall be buried in the garden , and I 'll never have another bird , never , my Pip ! for I am too bad to own one , '' murmured Beth , sitting on the floor with her pet folded in her hands . `` The funeral shall be this afternoon , and we will all go . Now , do n't cry , Bethy . It 's a pity , but nothing goes right this week , and Pip has had the worst of the experiment .
Make the shroud , and lay him in my box , and after the dinner party , we 'll have a nice little funeral , '' said XXXXX , beginning to feel as if she had undertaken a good deal .
Amy Beth Bethy Jo Pip domino earthquake left right shroud