As Beth had hoped , the ` tide went out easily ' , and in the dark hour before dawn , on the bosom where she had drawn her first breath , she quietly drew her last , with no farewell but one loving look , one little sigh . With tears and prayers and tender hands , Mother and sisters made her ready for the long sleep that pain would never mar again , seeing with grateful eyes the beautiful serenity that soon replaced the pathetic patience that had wrung their hearts so long , and feeling with reverent joy that to their darling death was a benignant angel , not a phantom full of dread . When morning came , for the first time in many months the fire was out , Jo 's place was empty , and the room was very still . But a bird sang blithely on a budding bough , close by , the snowdrops blossomed freshly at the window , and the spring sunshine streamed in like a benediction over the placid face upon the pillow , a face so full of painless peace that those who loved it best smiled through their tears , and thanked God that Beth was well at last . CHAPTER FORTY-ONE LEARNING TO FORGET Amy 's lecture did Laurie good , though , of course , he did not own it till long afterward . Men seldom do , for when women are the advisers , the lords of creation do n't take the advice till they have persuaded themselves that it is just what they intended to do . Then they act upon it , and , if it succeeds , they give the weaker vessel half the credit of it . If it fails , they generously give her the whole . Laurie went back to his grandfather , and was so dutifully devoted for several weeks that the old gentleman declared the climate of Nice had improved him wonderfully , and he had better try it again . There was nothing the young gentleman would have liked better , but elephants could not have dragged him back after the scolding he had received . Pride forbid , and whenever the longing grew very strong , he fortified his resolution by repeating the words that had made the deepest impression -- `` I despise you . '' `` Go and do something splendid that will make her love you . '' Laurie turned the matter over in his mind so often that he soon brought himself to confess that he had been selfish and lazy , but then when a man has a great sorrow , he should be indulged in all sorts of vagaries till he has lived it down . He felt that his blighted affections were quite dead now , and though he should never cease to be a faithful mourner , there was no occasion to wear his weeds ostentatiously . Jo would n't love him , but he might make her respect and admire him by doing something which should prove that a girl 's ` No ' had not spoiled his life . He had always meant to do something , and Amy 's advice was quite unnecessary . He had only been waiting till the aforesaid blighted affections were decently interred . That being done , he felt that he was ready to ` hide his stricken heart , and still toil on ' . As Goethe , when he had a joy or a grief , put it into a song , so Laurie resolved to embalm his love sorrow in music , and to compose a Requiem which should harrow up Jo 's soul and melt the heart of every hearer . Therefore the next time the old gentleman found him getting restless and moody and ordered him off , he went to Vienna , where he had musical friends , and fell to work with the firm determination to distinguish himself .
But whether the sorrow was too vast to be embodied in music , or music too ethereal to uplift a mortal woe , he soon discovered that the XXXXX was beyond him just at present .
Amy Jo Nice Requiem Vienna months morning mourner snowdrops weeks