And what do you get in return for all this? Some pleasant
scenes, which will soon seem to you like a dream; some pleasant faces,
which you will never see again; and much of crowd, and toil, and dust,
and bustle.
I once knew a family which formed a striking illustration of my
remarks. The man was a farmer, and his wife was an active, capable
woman, with more of ambition than sound policy. Being in debt, they
resolved to take fashionable boarders from Boston, during the summer
season. These boarders, at the time of their arrival, were projecting
a jaunt to the Springs; and they talked of Lake George crystals, and
Canadian music, and English officers, and 'dark blue Ontario,' with
its beautiful little brood of _lakelets_, as Wordsworth would call
them; and how one lady was dressed superbly at Saratoga; and how
another was scandalized for always happening to drop her fan in the
vicinity of the wealthiest beaux. All this fired the quiet imagination
of the good farmer's wife; and no sooner had the boarders departed to
enjoy themselves in spite of heat, and dust, and fever-and-ague, than
she stated her determination to follow them.
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