Chapter 10
Section 10 of A Cup of Sweets That Can Never Cloy, or Delightful Tales for Good Children. Mr. and Mrs. Claremont invited their little niece, Elizabeth Sinclair, to spend a month with them in the country. Mr. Claremont was extremely fond of children, but his partiality to their company never extended to any who had been improperly and foolishly indulged and were whimsical and discontented. And had he known that his sister had suffered her little gar to have those disagreeable qualities, he never would have asked her to his house. But he had been two years abroad and knew nothing of her.
The day on which she was expected, her uncle and aunt went to meet her, and were very much pleased with her appearance, as well as the affectionate manner in which she returned the caresses they bestowed upon her. She was extremely pretty, had fine teeth, fine hair, and a beautiful complexion, and Mr. Claremont said to his wife, I shall be delighted to have this sweet little creature with me and to show all my friends what a charming niece I have. But he was not long in changing his opinion, and very soon discovered that her beauty, much as he had thought of it, did not prevent her being the most disagreeable girl he had ever met with. She was no sooner in the house than she complained of being too warm, then too cold, and a minute after too warm again.
Too tired to sit up, yet not choosing to go to bed, wishing for some tea, and then not liking anything but milk and water, now drinking it without sugar, then desiring to have some, and, after saying she never stopped, bursting into tears because she was going to be sent to bed without supper. I perceive I was mistaken, said Mr. Claremont. This sweet little creature will be a pretty torment to us if we permit her to have her own way, but I shall put a stop to it immediately. Accordingly, the next day at dinner he asked her if she would be helped to some mutton, but she refused it, saying she never could eat anything roasted. Then, my dear, replied Mr. Claremont, here is a boiled potato for you. Eat that, for you will have nothing else.
Elizabeth was extremely disconcerted, and thought if she had been at home, her mama would have ordered half a dozen different things for her, rather than suffer her to eat anything she disliked or to dine upon potatoes. She made a very bad dinner, and was cross and out of humour the whole evening. The next day at table Mr. Claremont offered to help her to some boiled lamb, but Elizabeth, according to her usual custom of never liking what was offered to her, said she could not eat lamb when it was boiled. So I expected, said Mr. Claremont, and, taking off the cover from a small dish which was placed next to him, here are some roasted potatoes which I have provided on purpose, fearing you might not happen to like the rest of the dinner. Elizabeth began to cry bitterly, but her uncle paid no kind of attention to her tears, only saying that if she preferred a basin of water gruel, she should have some made in an instant.
She was extremely hungry, having quarrelled with her breakfast and had nothing since, and perceiving that her tears were not likely to produce any good effect, was glad to dine very heartily on lamb and spinach, and to eat some currant tarts which she had said she could not bear even the smell of. She insisted, however, on returning to her mamma immediately, saying she would not stay any longer in her house where she was in danger of being starved and was sure her mamma would be very angry if she knew how she was treated. I am sorry to inform you, my dear niece, said Mr. Claremont, that you must endeavour to put up with it at least a month or six weeks, for your mamma is gone into Wales on business of consequence and will not be at home to receive you till that time is expired. This was sad news for Elizabeth. She was extremely unhappy, and wished a thousand times she had never quitted her own home, where she was indulged in all her whims, and where everyone's time was employed in trying to please and amuse her. And now, thought she, on the contrary, I never have anything I like, and my uncle appears to take pleasure in teasing and vexing me from morning to night.
Finding, however, that she must either eat what was provided for her, or suffer hunger, and conscious that she had no real dislike to anything in particular, though she had a great pleasure in plaguing everybody about her, she thought it advisable to submit, and consequently dined extremely well every day whether the meat was roasted or boiled, stewed or fried. One day, when she was going with her uncle and aunt to take a walk to the next village, a poor miserable woman, with a child in her arms, and followed by two others, met them at the gate, and begged, for God's sake, they would take pity upon her and her helpless infants, who she said had not tasted food since the foregoing day. Called meat and bread being immediately brought out to them, both the woman and her children sinced upon it with so much eagerness that they might really be believed to be almost famished. Mr. Claremont desired Elizabeth would observe them attentively, and, after making her take particular notice of the joy with which the poor people were feasting on the scraps that came from their table, asked her if she thought she ever again could, without being guilty of a dreadful sin, despise, as she frequently had done, and refuse to eat of the wholesome and plentiful food of the poor people. Elizabeth was struck with her uncle's words, and with the sight before her.
She felt that she had, by her ingratitude and unthankfulness to God, rendered herself very undeserving of the comforts he had bestowed upon her, and of which the poor children she was then looking at stood so much in need, and she never, from that day, was heard to find fault with anything, but prayed that she might in future deserve a continuance of such blessings. End of section 10
