If ‘genius is eternal patience’, as Michelangelo affirms, Amy had some claim to the divine attribute, for she persevered in spite of all obstacles, failures, and discouragements, firmly believing that in time she should do something worthy to be called ‘high art’.

She was learning, doing, and enjoying other things, meanwhile, for she had resolved to be an attractive and accomplished woman, even if she never became a great artist.  Here she succeeded better, for she was one of those happily created beings who please without effort, make friends everywhere, and take life so gracefully and easily that less fortunate souls are tempted to believe that such are born under a lucky star.  Everybody liked her, for among her good gifts was tact.  She had an instinctive sense of what was pleasing and proper, always said the right thing to the right person, did just what suited the time and place, and was so self-possessed that her sisters used to say, “If Amy went to court without any rehearsal beforehand, she’d know exactly what to do.”

One of her weaknesses was a desire to move in ‘our best society’, without being quite sure what the best really was.  Money, position, fashionable accomplishments, and elegant manners were most desirable things in her eyes, and she liked to associate with those who possessed them, often mistaking the false for the true, and admiring what was not admirable.  Never forgetting that by birth she was a gentlewoman, she cultivated her aristocratic tastes and feelings, so that when the opportunity came she might be ready to take the place from which poverty now excluded her.

“My lady,” as her friends called her, sincerely desired to be a genuine lady, and was so at heart, but had yet to learn that money cannot buy refinement of nature, that rank does not always confer nobility, and that true breeding makes itself felt in spite of external drawbacks.

“I want to ask a favor of you, Mamma,” Amy said, coming in with an important air one day.

“Well, little girl, what is it?” replied her mother, in whose eyes the stately young lady still remained ‘the baby’.

“Our drawing class breaks up next week, and before the girls separate for the summer, I want to ask them out here for a day.  They are wild to see the river, sketch the broken bridge, and copy some of the things they admire in my book.  They have been very kind to me in many ways, and I am grateful, for they are all rich and I know I am poor, yet they never made any difference.”

“Why should they?” and Mrs. March put the question with what the girls called her ‘Maria Theresa air’.

“You know as well as I that it does make a difference with nearly everyone, so don’t ruffle up like a dear, motherly hen, when your chickens get pecked by smarter birds.  The ugly duckling turned out a swan, you know.” and Amy smiled without bitterness, for she possessed a happy temper and hopeful spirit.