“a party of pleasure! oh, mamma, let us go,” said rosamond. “we shall be so happy, i am sure.”

“what! because it is a party of pleasure, my dear,” said her mother, smiling.

“do you know,” continued rosamond, without listening to what her mother said—“do you know, mamma, that they are going in the boat, on the river; and there are to be streamers flying, and music playing all the time? and mrs. blisset, and miss blisset, and the master blissets, will be here in a few minutes. will you go, mamma? may godfrey and i go with you?”

“yes, my dears.”

scarcely had her mother added the word “yes,” than rosamond uttered a loud exclamation of joy, and ran to tell her brother godfrey, and returned, repeating as she capered about the room—

“oh! we shall be so happy! so happy!”

“moderate your transports, my dear rosamond,”[100] said her mother. “if you expect so much happiness beforehand you may be disappointed.”

“disappointed, mamma!—i thought people were always happy on parties of pleasure; miss blisset told me so.”

“my dear, you had better judge for yourself, than to trust to what miss blisset tells you, without knowing any thing of the matter yourself.”

“mamma, if i know nothing of the matter, how can i judge? why should i not trust what miss blisset says?”

“wait and you will know, my dear.”

“you said, mamma, do not raise your expectations. is it not well to expect to be happy?—to hope to be happy, makes me happy now. if i thought i should be unhappy, it would make me unhappy now.”

“i do not wish you to think you shall be unhappy; i wish you to have as much pleasure now as you can have, without being made unhappy by disappointment. i wish you to attend to your own feelings, to find out what makes you happy, and what makes you unhappy. you are going on a party of pleasure, i beg you to observe whether you are happy or not; observe what pleases and entertains you.”

here the conversation was interrupted. a carriage came to the door, and rosamond exclaimed—

[101]

“here they are—mrs. blisset, miss blisset, and her two brothers. i see their heads in the coach; i will run and put on my hat.”

“i assure you, mamma,” continued she, as she was tying the string of her hat, “i will remember to tell you whether i have been happy or not.”

rosamond went with her mother, and mrs. blisset and her children, on this party. the next morning, when rosamond went into her mother’s room, her mother reminded her of her promise.

“you promised to tell, my dear, whether you were as happy as you expected to be.”

“i did, mamma. you must know, then, i was not happy all day yesterday; that is to say, i was not nearly so happy as i thought i should have been. i should have liked going in the boat, and seeing the streamers flying, and hearing the music, and looking at the prospect, and walking in the pretty island, and dining out of doors under the large shady trees, if it had not been for other things, which were so disagreeable that they spoiled all our pleasure.”

“what were those disagreeable things?”

“mamma, they were little things. yet they were very disagreeable. little disputes—little quarrels between miss blisset and her brothers, about every thing that was to be done. first, when he got into the boat,[102] the youngest boy wanted us to sit on one side, and miss blisset wanted us to sit on the other side; now, mamma, you know we could not do both.

“but they went on disputing about this for half an hour; and godfrey and i were so ashamed, and so sorry, that we could not have any pleasure in listening to the music or looking at the prospect. you were at the other end of the boat, mamma, and you did not see and hear all this. then we came to the island, and then i thought we should be happy; but one of the boys said, ‘come this way, or you will see nothing.’ the other boy roared out, ‘no, they must come my way;’ and miss blisset insisted on our going her way.

“all the time we were walking, they went on disputing about which of their ways was the best. then they looked so discontented and so angry with one another. i am sure they were not happy ten minutes together, all day long; and i said to myself, ‘is this a party of pleasure? how much happier godfrey and i are every day, even without going to this pretty island, and without hearing this music, or seeing these fine prospects—much happier, because we do not quarrel with one another about every trifle.’”

“my dear,” said her mother, “i am glad you have had an opportunity of seeing all this.”

“mamma, instead of its being a party of pleasure, it was a party of pain. oh, mamma, i never wish to go on another party of pleasure. i have done with parties of pleasure for ever,” concluded rosamond.

“you know, my dear, i warned you not to raise your expectations too high, lest you should be disappointed. you have found that unless people are good-tempered, and obliging, and ready to please each other, they make pain even of pleasure; therefore avoid quarrelsome people as much as you can, and never imitate them; but do not declare against all parties of pleasure, and decide against them for ever because one happened not to be so delightful as you had expected it to be.”