Anticipations and Realities

“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 exclamation¹ of joy, and ran to tell her brother Godfrey, and returned, repeating as she capered² 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 beforehand³ 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 prospect⁴, and walking in the pretty island, and dining out of doors under the large shady⁵ 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 trifle⁶.’”

“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 delightful⁷ as you had expected it to be.”

1 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

2 capered   

v.跳跃，雀跃( caper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• While dressing, he capered and clowned like a schoolboy. 他一边穿，一边象个学生似的蹦蹦跳跳地扮演起小丑来。 来自辞典例句
• The lambs capered in the meadow. 小羊在草地上蹦蹦跳跳。 来自辞典例句

3 beforehand   

adj.事先，预先，提前地，超前地

参考例句：

• If I'd known this beforehand,I would not have gone back.早知如此，我就不回去了。
• They proposed to make arrangement beforehand.他们提议事先做好安排。

4 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

5 shady   

adj.成荫的，多荫的，可疑的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• This is a shady avenue.这是条林阴大道。
• He's a rather shady person.他是个相当靠不住的人。

6 trifle   

n.无价值的东西、问题、行动；v.轻视，小看

参考例句：

• It's senseless to get angry over such a trifle.不值得为这点小事惹气。
• This trifle developed itself into a serious problem.这件小事已发展成一个很严重的问题。

7 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。