I'm sorry I was ever impertinent to Mrs. Lippett.

I'm sorry I ever slapped Freddie Perkins.

I'm sorry I ever filled the sugar bowl with salt.

I'm sorry I ever made faces behind the Trustees' backs.

I'm going to be good and sweet and kind to everybody because I'm
so happy. And this summer I'm going to write and write and write
and begin to be a great author. Isn't that an exalted stand
to take? Oh, I'm developing a beautiful character! It droops
a bit under cold and frost, but it does grow fast when the sun shines.

That's the way with everybody. I don't agree with the theory that
adversity and sorrow and disappointment develop moral strength.
The happy people are the ones who are bubbling over with kindliness.
I have no faith in misanthropes. (Fine word! Just learned it.)
You are not a misanthrope are you, Daddy?

I started to tell you about the campus. I wish you'd come
for a little visit and let me walk you about and say:

`That is the library. This is the gas plant, Daddy dear.
The Gothic building on your left is the gymnasium, and the Tudor
Romanesque beside it is the new infirmary.'

Oh, I'm fine at showing people about. I've done it all my life at
the asylum, and I've been doing it all day here. I have honestly.