- Jeremiah Judkins: The little Cap'n is a power o' help to me! She gets sweeter, an' smarter, an' prettier every day!
- Bob Peet: Those busy-bodies in town are at it again - - about Cap'n January. They're sayin' it ain't right for her to be out here - - that she's not took care of proper - - and needs schoolin'.
- Title Card: Jeremiah's plans for Captain January's education were simple - - Shakespeare for the mind - - the Bible for the soul - - and the dictionary to settle disputes.
- Jeremiah Judkins: [Reading to Cap'n January, Act 2, Scene 4, from Shakespeare's "The Two Gentlemen of Verona"] "She is mine own, And I as rich is having such a jewel, As twenty seas, if all their sands were pearl"
- Captain January: Please, Daddy, tell me my story - - about how I came to be your little girl.
- Jeremiah Judkins: Once upon a time - - five years ago, little shipmate - when it seemed like the whole Atlantic Ocean was a-poundin' on these rocks - - - - a nameless ship loomed out of the storm, a battered target for the waves - - - - a flash o' lightin' showed her a-straddle o' Bull's Horn Rock - the next flash showed her - gone! - - somethin' came a-ridin' toward me out o' the storm - - And I knew, somehow, that whatever it was, God was sendin' it to me. - - and then a tiny cry, like a the cry of a kitten, came out o' that bundle on the spar - - And that's how you came here to me - - like the Good Book says 'a light from Heaven to shine in a dark place.
- Captain January: And my mother went to Heaven, didn't she? - - where she can look down and take care of both of us.
- Captain January: Ahoy, Cap'n Daddy! How's she headin'?
- Jeremiah Judkins: I was neein' your help, Cap'n January. Ye might shift her a couple o' p'ints starboard!
- Jeremiah Judkins: [to Rev. John Elliot] I reckon I know why you've come. It's because Maxwell and them women have been tellin' you I ain't givin' the little Cap'n all she ought to have. I'll show you what I'm teachin' her.
- Captain January: And I know my Lord's Prayer, and my times tables clear up to twelve - don't I Daddy?
- Jeremiah Judkins: After all, Minister, there's only three things needed to bring up a child - - the Lord's help, common sense - and a cow.
- Jeremiah Judkins: I reckon, honey, when anybody's as happy as you and your old Daddy, nothin's ever goin' to come between 'em!
- Jeremiah Judkins: Go and get your hat, honey-bird. We're goin' to see what the minister says about this.
- Captain January: [referring to her pet pelican] We used to call her Hamlet, but he laid an egg yesterday, and now his name's Ophelia.
- Captain January: I can't belong to different people, 'cause I'm just one - - I'm Captain Daddy's little girl.
- Captain January: Nobody's taken one bit of care for you! You slept in your chair - and you haven't taken any of your medicine!
- Jeremiah Judkins: You're my medicine!