The next day was cold and rainy, and it was late when the travelers arrived at the place of their destination, and Clara retired to her apartment much fatigued with her ride, as she had carried Johnny, a troublesome child of three years old, in her lap the whole way, not because there was no room for him elsewhere, but merely because the “little darling” wouldn’t ride any where but with “Cousin Clara,” whose new riding-dress he also chose to daub with molasses candy.
The next morning, when Clara arose, she was informed by a servant that breakfast was ready, who at the same time requested her to excuse “master and missus, as they were too much fatigued with their journey to come down.” Accordingly, Clara descended to an elegantly furnished breakfast-room, which, however, was extremely cold, on account of the very small fire; and the handsome furniture seemed much tarnished by the children, and the breakfast-table was much disordered, as is always the case when, as they did on this occasion, any members of the family take their breakfast in their own room.
No one was at the breakfast-table but the two eldest children, whose company was not very agreeable, as they did nothing but quarrel with each other, and call fretfully to the servants for articles which were not on the table; and during her solitary meal Clara could but compare the pleasant breakfast-room at Primrose Cottage, with its neat carpet of domestic manufacture, its snowy curtains, and its blazing fire, with the cold and comfortless apartment in which she now sat; nor could she avoid drawing a like comparison between her own dear mother’s quiet and cheerful neatness, and the sweet-tempered voices of her little brother and sister, with her cousin’s careless self-indulgence, and the fretful ill temper of her children; yet, while Clara made these comparisons, not very flattering to her cousin, she also reflected that Mrs. Cleveland had just returned from a journey; and it was natural to suppose that the house would be in some confusion, and the children tired, and in consequence fretful, immediately upon their return.
But I was a gay and a thoughtless girl, And I cast them all away, And gathered the dandelion buds, And the wild grapes gadding spray. BALLAD.