An excerpt from Little Women:
"O Jo, it's not so bad as that?" cried Laurie.
"Yes, it is. She doesn't know us, she doesn't even talk about the flocks of green doves, as she calls the vine leaves on the wall. She doesn't look like my Beth, and there's nobody to help us bear it; Mother and Father both gone, and God seems so far away I can't find Him."
As the tears streamed fast down poor Jo's cheeks, she stretched out her hand in a helpless sort of way, as if groping in the dark, and Laurie took it in his, whispering with a lump in his throat: "I'm here. Hold on to me, Jo dear!"
She could not speak, but she did "hold on," and seemed to lead her nearer to the Divine arm which alone could uphold her in her trouble. Laurie longed to say something tender and comfortable, but no fitting words came to him, so he stood silent, gently stroking her bent head as her mother used to do. Soon she dried the tears which had relieved her, and looked up with a grateful face. "I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship." ~Louisa May Alcott~
