If anyone had known the care lavished on that dolly , I think it would have touched their hearts , even while they laughed . She brought it bits of bouquets , she read to it , took it out to breathe fresh air , hidden under her coat , she sang it lullabies and never went to bed without kissing its dirty face and whispering tenderly , `` I hope you 'll have a good night , my poor dear . '' Beth had her troubles as well as the others , and not being an angel but a very human little girl , she often ` wept a little weep ' as Jo said , because she could n't take music lessons and have a fine piano . She loved music so dearly , tried so hard to learn , and practiced away so patiently at the jingling old instrument , that it did seem as if someone -LRB- not to hint Aunt March -RRB- ought to help her . Nobody did , however , and nobody saw Beth wipe the tears off the yellow keys , that would n't keep in tune , when she was all alone . She sang like a little lark about her work , never was too tired for Marmee and the girls , and day after day said hopefully to herself , `` I know I 'll get my music some time , if I 'm good . '' There are many Beths in the world , shy and quiet , sitting in corners till needed , and living for others so cheerfully that no one sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping , and the sweet , sunshiny presence vanishes , leaving silence and shadow behind . If anybody had asked Amy what the greatest trial of her life was , she would have answered at once , `` My nose . '' When she was a baby , Jo had accidently dropped her into the coal hod , and Amy insisted that the fall had ruined her nose forever . It was not big nor red , like poor ` Petrea 's ' , it was only rather flat , and all the pinching in the world could not give it an aristocratic point . No one minded it but herself , and it was doing its best to grow , but Amy felt deeply the want of a Grecian nose , and drew whole sheets of handsome ones to console herself . `` Little Raphael , '' as her sisters called her , had a decided talent for drawing , and was never so happy as when copying flowers , designing fairies , or illustrating stories with queer specimens of art . Her teachers complained that instead of doing her sums she covered her slate with animals , the blank pages of her atlas were used to copy maps on , and caricatures of the most ludicrous description came fluttering out of all her books at unlucky moments . She got through her lessons as well as she could , and managed to escape reprimands by being a model of deportment . She was a great favorite with her mates , being good-tempered and possessing the happy art of pleasing without effort . Her little airs and graces were much admired , so were her accomplishments , for besides her drawing , she could play twelve tunes , crochet , and read French without mispronouncing more than two-thirds of the words . She had a plaintive way of saying , `` When Papa was rich we did so-and-so , '' which was very touching , and her long words were considered ` perfectly elegant ' by the girls . Amy was in a fair way to be spoiled , for everyone petted her , and her small vanities and selfishnesses were growing nicely . One thing , however , rather quenched the vanities . She had to wear her cousin 's clothes .
Now Florence 's mama had n't a particle of taste , and XXXXX suffered deeply at having to wear a red instead of a blue bonnet , unbecoming gowns , and fussy aprons that did not fit .
Amy Beths French Grecian Marmee Petrea Raphael hod reprimands selfishnesses