"Oh!" exclaimed Marcy, staring a little. "Are you pious? We're not very pious here. We go to Church, of course, every Sunday; and we children go to convent schools, and we're good Catholics, but we're not thinking of being saints."

"I don't mean doing something wonderful," explained Nellie. "I mean being what Pa calls a little-cricket-on-the-hearth kind of saint-never thinking of yourself, or what you want at all, but trying to do something for others all the while, until everyone feels as though they'd never be able to breathe another minute if you weren't around. I think it is simply grand to be that kind of person; don't you?"

"I never thought about it at all," Marcy said honestly. "I shouldn't wonder if that would be a great thing if you thought it all out..."

The eldest daughter in a prosperous New York family, Marcy Merrick dreams of doing something grand with her life - being the best painter, poet, or singer of her time - but her endeavors are always getting interrupted by her five younger siblings. When cousin Nellie from the country comes to spend the winter, and tragedy befalls the Merrick family, Marcy and her family learn what true greatness is.

Recommended for ages 8+

(This is a retyped and formatted reprint of a classic book.)