"I mean they can't go together and take dinner at a big hotel: they can't go together where folks have to be dressed up and look smart."
"I think it's too bad, anyhow," said Sue emphatically.
"So do I!" said Johnny. "I guess that's the reason folks don't like to be poor: they can't have as good times as rich folks, and they have to be looked down upon. I shouldn't like to be poor."
"I am poor, and yet I have a pretty good time, Johnny," remarked Pierre.
"And you and I are not rich, my son, and yet we manage to be pretty cheerful," added Mr. Le Bras.
"But we're not so very poor," replied Johnny: "Pierre dresses well, and so do we, and no one would think of calling us poor."
"Then, it is about as good as if we were rich," said Mr. Le Bras; "and perhaps it is better, though we are not apt to think so. It is my opinion that Pierre enjoys that new suit of his far more for having had to work hard in my office to earn it; and I don't enjoy seeing you and Sue in your best clothes any the less, because I have had to do some writing and talking in my office, or some speech-making in court, to purchase them. I cannot have just the kind of enjoyment Mr. Frothingham has in his fine yacht; but perhaps I manage to have just as good a time some other way, even when I do not have the advantage of your uncle's cottage by the sea. You and I have had pretty good times, before this summer, Johnny."
"Oh, yes!" said Johnny. "I think we have grand times at home."
"And often with nothing more costly than a book out of a free library. Don't go to having the dreary thought that persons who are not rich cannot enjoy themselves; for if that were so, the great portion of the people in the world would be miserable, and that would be a sad thing to think of. I shouldn't wonder if Ruth were enjoying herself in some way over at the lighthouse, as much as we are here in the carriage."
"I don't believe she is," said Sue; "because her mother is dead, and her aunt don't like to have her stay there."