But I was going to say that while I was dawdling about abroad , I saw a good many talented young fellows making all sorts of sacrifices , and enduring real hardships , that they might realize their dreams . Splendid fellows , some of them , working like heros , poor and friendless , but so full of courage , patience , and ambition that I was ashamed of myself , and longed to give them a right good lift . Those are people whom it 's a satisfaction to help , for if they 've got genius , it 's an honor to be allowed to serve them , and not let it be lost or delayed for want of fuel to keep the pot boiling . If they have n't , it 's a pleasure to comfort the poor souls , and keep them from despair when they find it out . '' `` Yes , indeed , and there 's another class who ca n't ask , and who suffer in silence . I know something of it , for I belonged to it before you made a princess of me , as the king does the beggarmaid in the old story . Ambitious girls have a hard time , Laurie , and often have to see youth , health , and precious opportunities go by , just for want of a little help at the right minute . People have been very kind to me , and whenever I see girls struggling along , as we used to do , I want to put out my hand and help them , as I was helped . '' `` And so you shall , like an angel as you are ! '' cried Laurie , resolving , with a glow of philanthropic zeal , to found and endow an institution for the express benefit of young women with artistic tendencies . `` Rich people have no right to sit down and enjoy themselves , or let their money accumulate for others to waste . It 's not half so sensible to leave legacies when one dies as it is to use the money wisely while alive , and enjoy making one 's fellow creatures happy with it . We 'll have a good time ourselves , and add an extra relish to our own pleasure by giving other people a generous taste . Will you be a little Dorcas , going about emptying a big basket of comforts , and filling it up with good deeds ? '' `` With all my heart , if you will be a brave St. Martin , stopping as you ride gallantly through the world to share your cloak with the beggar . '' `` It 's a bargain , and we shall get the best of it ! '' So the young pair shook hands upon it , and then paced happily on again , feeling that their pleasant home was more homelike because they hoped to brighten other homes , believing that their own feet would walk more uprightly along the flowery path before them , if they smoothed rough ways for other feet , and feeling that their hearts were more closely knit together by a love which could tenderly remember those less blest than they . CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE DAISY AND DEMI I can not feel that I have done my duty as humble historian of the March family , without devoting at least one chapter to the two most precious and important members of it . Daisy and Demi had now arrived at years of discretion , for in this fast age babies of three or four assert their rights , and get them , too , which is more than many of their elders do . If there ever were a pair of twins in danger of being utterly spoiled by adoration , it was these prattling Brookes .
Of course they were the most remarkable children ever born , as will be shown when I mention that they walked at eight months , talked fluently at twelve months , and at two XXXXX they took their places at table , and behaved with a propriety which charmed all beholders .
Brookes DAISY DEMI Dorcas Laurie adoration beggarmaid heros right years