Quote 13
I did not laugh. "I am never going to marry," I said. "Never."
"Oh no?"
"No. Never."
"Well, we'll see about that," Mrs. Crego said. Her face softened. "The pain stops, you know, Mattie. And the memory of it fades. Minnie will forget all about this one day."
"Maybe she will, but I surely won't," I said. (9.wan.61-65)
Mattie has just seen a pretty awful natural childbirth, and her response is a loud and clear no thank you. If she stays and marries, though, there's no question that having and raising children will be in her future. The experience of witnessing Minnie's birth, as well as Minnie's loving reaction to her husband after the twins are born, drastically influence Mattie's view of what motherhood is really like.
Quote 14
I lie back against my pillow and spend a long time silently repeating them to myself, over and over and over again like a litany, but it's no use. Mamma said I would know. And I do. I guess I have all along.
"Poor, sad, stupid Grace," I whisper to the darkness. "Poor, sad, stupid Matt." (37.21-22)
Grace convinced herself that Chester loved her, but in one of the last letters she wrote, she reveals that she's aware he doesn't love her at all, and Mattie has tried to convince herself Royal loves her, but she knows the truth. Yet another way that Grace helps Mattie on her path to college. For marriage without love would not be worth the sacrifice of herself to Mattie.
Quote 15
"And Mike Bouchard. And Weaver, too."
"Weaver Smith is no recommendation."
"Please, Pa," I whispered. (2.fractious.118-119)
Mattie wants to go work at the Glenmore Hotel to earn money for college, but Pa makes it clear that he doesn't approve of Weaver. We don't really know whether it's because Weaver fuels Mattie's dreams to be a writer or if it's because of race, but either way it's fairly standard for how race is treated in A Northern Light; it's complicated and entangled with other facets of society and people's beliefs.