`` Commissary general , will you make the fire and get water , while Miss March , Miss Sallie , and I spread the table ? Who can make good coffee ? '' `` Jo can , '' said Meg , glad to recommend her sister . So Jo , feeling that her late lessons in cookery were to do her honor , went to preside over the coffeepot , while the children collected dry sticks , and the boys made a fire and got water from a spring near by . Miss Kate sketched and Frank talked to Beth , who was making little mats of braided rushes to serve as plates . The commander in chief and his aides soon spread the tablecloth with an inviting array of eatables and drinkables , prettily decorated with green leaves . Jo announced that the coffee was ready , and everyone settled themselves to a hearty meal , for youth is seldom dyspeptic , and exercise develops wholesome appetites . A very merry lunch it was , for everything seemed fresh and funny , and frequent peals of laughter startled a venerable horse who fed near by . There was a pleasing inequality in the table , which produced many mishaps to cups and plates , acorns dropped in the milk , little black ants partook of the refreshments without being invited , and fuzzy caterpillars swung down from the tree to see what was going on . Three white-headed children peeped over the fence , and an objectionable dog barked at them from the other side of the river with all his might and main . `` There 's salt here , '' said Laurie , as he handed Jo a saucer of berries . `` Thank you , I prefer spiders , '' she replied , fishing up two unwary little ones who had gone to a creamy death . `` How dare you remind me of that horrid dinner party , when yours is so nice in every way ? '' added Jo , as they both laughed and ate out of one plate , the china having run short . `` I had an uncommonly good time that day , and have n't got over it yet . This is no credit to me , you know , I do n't do anything . It 's you and Meg and Brooke who make it all go , and I 'm no end obliged to you . What shall we do when we ca n't eat anymore ? '' asked Laurie , feeling that his trump card had been played when lunch was over . `` Have games till it 's cooler .
I brought Authors , and I dare say Miss XXXXX knows something new and nice .
Beth Jo Kate Meg cookery drinkables fire mishaps saucer tablecloth