Chapter 22: Pleasant Meadows

Summary

The girls and Marmee celebrate another Christmas along with Hannah and Laurie. Mrs. March has a letter from her husband saying he will soon be with them. While occupying themselves with such blessings as they have, however, they are surprised by the appearance of Mr. Brook and Father at the door. He still has some convalescent time ahead of him, but is able to sit in an easy chair along with Beth and enjoy the company of the family. Laurie, Mr. Laurence and Mr. Brooke dine with them. In spite of the happiness of the occasion, Jo cannot resist glaring at Mr. Brooke.

The family is all together again. Although Mr. March will remain a fairly useless character, his observations of his girls provide us with a midpoint summary on his daughtersÂ’ maturity at this point. He notices that Amy takes less choice pieces of meat for herself and willingly runs errands for her mother. Jo is acting more like a lady, dressing more neatly, refraining from slang and using chairs rather than lying about on the floor like a tomboy. Meg has abused and roughened her hands with housework, but Mr. March values such "womanly skill" more than "white hands or fashionable accomplishments." Beth is not as shy as she once was, although her father is afraid to say much about her for fear she will "slip away altogether." His observations thus give the reader a concise way of comparing the girls of the first chapter with the girls of this second Christmas of the novel.

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