So many friends entirely unexpected!
It seemed the home folks had sent out the invitations and managed to corral friends for every single Bobbie, not forgetting Mackey, who was so glad to welcome Molly Burbank, a friend of her high school days.
And the boxes and the bundles!
“A regular picnic!” sang out Louise. “Let’s put everything on the big table.”
“And Helen!” chuckled Cleo. “I am so glad to see you! When did you come back to the lake?”
“Isabel, dear, ducky Izzy!” chirped Grace. “We have been talking about you a lot. Can you stay?”
Then there was Mary, Carol, Annette, and so many other school and home-town friends that for a little time the mothers seemed neglected, but presently Louise was “hanging on her folks” with such enthusiasm she threatened to do damage to something, while Cleo hugged her mother and her big coz Alem, and Grace almost strangled her mother, so that it all looked like a new version of Mother’s Day.
The inspection was punctuated with constant exclamations of wonder and applause, and that the Bobbies would find themselves expected to shoulder added responsibilities when they should return home was very evident.
“If they can do so well in camp we may hope for great things at home,” remarked more than one delighted visitor, but the Scouts shook their heads and refused to promise.
Miss Mackin was arranging “the treat.” She and her friends had taken over all the tasks so that the younger girls might more fully enjoy the company. The long table, with its dainty paper table cover, was arranged with paper plates (for company only), and the bunches of rarest wild flowers Miss Mackin had gathered the day before gave a real festive look to “the board.”