“ ‘ Mrs. Gardiner would be happy to see Miss March and Miss Josephine at a little dance on New-Year’s Eve.’ Marmee is willing we should go; now what shall we wear?”

“What’s the use of asking that, when you know we shall wear our poplins, because we haven’t got anything else?” answered Jo, with her mouth full.

“If I only had a silk!” sighed Meg. “Mother says I may when I’m eighteen, perhaps; but two years is an everlasting time to wait.”

“I’m sure our pops look like silk, and they are nice enough for us. Yours is as good as new, but I forgot the burn and the tear in mine. Whatever shall I do? the burn shows badly, and I can’t take any out.”