“Then you don’t want to go Juning to the Great Falls with me?” said their aunt.
“’Deed and ’deed we do,” cried Jack. “We didn’t know that was on.”
“Is it to be a picnic, Aunt Helen? Won’t that be fun?” said Jean.
“Would you rather go there, to Alexandria, or to Mount Vernon?” asked Miss Helen.
“We’ve been to Mount Vernon,” said Nan; “it would seem more picnicky to go to the Falls, don’t you think?”
“Time was when it was very picnicky to go to Mount Vernon,” said Miss Helen reminiscently. “I can remember when I was a girl that we used to take luncheon and eat it on the grass there in front of the house. Visitors were few then and the regulations were much less formal; one almost felt as if she were visiting the family, we were given such freedom. We could always get milk from the dairy, could have a clipping from the garden, and had access to many places which now are shut away from the public.”
“Then I shouldn’t think you would care to go there at all.”
“It doesn’t seem much of a privilege in comparison with the old free and easy times.”
“Then we will vote for the Falls. Don’t you say so?” Nan appealed to her sisters, who all agreed that it would be much more like going a-Maying, or a-Juning as Miss Helen called it, if they took a luncheon to the woods instead of making a pilgrimage to Washington’s old home.
As usual Jean was most particular in the matter of what was to fill the lunch baskets and superintended in person the making of sundry special sandwiches, the buying of a large bottle of stuffed olives, and the careful packing of certain rich little cakes, so that her individual basket showed no frugal meal. As Jack always depended upon receiving a share of her twin’s provisions she did not trouble herself to look out for more than crackers and cheese and a little fruit while Nan with Mary Lee’s help saw to it that there was enough for a substantial luncheon in the basket which was to serve themselves and Miss Helen.