“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,............