Little Women - 912 Freedom Library

Little Womenregard her with aversion. Ned, being in college, of courseput on all the airs which freshmen think it their boundenduty to assume. He was not very wise, but very goodnatured,and altogether an excellent person to carry on apicnic. Sallie Gardiner was absorbed in keeping her whitepique dress clean and chattering with the ubiquitous Fred,who kept Beth in constant terror by his pranks.It was not far to Longmeadow, but the tent was pitchedand the wickets down by the time they arrived. A pleasantgreen field, with three wide-spreading oaks in the middleand a smooth strip of turf for croquet.‘Welcome to Camp Laurence!’ said the young host, asthey landed with exclamations of delight.‘Brooke is commander in chief, I am commissarygeneral, the other fellows are staff officers, and you, ladies,are company. The tent is for your especial benefit and thatoak is your drawing room, this is the messroom and thethird is the camp kitchen. Now, let’s have a game before itgets hot, and then we’ll see about dinner.’Frank, Beth, Amy, and Grace sat down to watch thegame played by the other eight. Mr. Brooke chose Meg,Kate, and Fred. Laurie took Sallie, Jo, and Ned. TheEnglish played well, but the Americans played better, andcontested every inch of the ground as strongly as if the221 of 861