"'Why cannot we have as nice things at our party as Mrs. Longworth gave us?' inquired one.
"'Because,' said his mother, 'we are not so rich.'
"'Then don't let us have a party,' was the next remark; 'I should hate for the boys to come here and say, "How different it is from Mrs. Longworth's!"'
"And yet, until then, there had been happy gatherings of bright children under the roof where the speaker lived, and the unwonted luxuries seen on the richer lady's table had neither been missed nor wanted.
"The mother of another young guest ventured to invite her children's friends to a simpler feast, in accordance with an annual custom, though she, too, rather dreaded an allusion to Mrs. Longworth's grand doings, and it came at last.
"'Are you enjoying the party?' said one of the youngsters, who was looking as happy as possible, to another who was standing aloof, as if Blind Man's Buff were a degradation after conjurors and marionnettes.
"'Fairly,' was the cool reply. 'But I don't call this a party, it is only going out to tea, you know.'"
Uncle Maurice laughed as his sister finished her account of the grand spread and its results.
Dear, kind Mrs. Longworth was, all unconsciously, walking too big, both for her child guests and their parents. When she racked her brain to give them pleasure, and neither spared trouble nor purse, she little imagined that she could possibly do harm by the very lavish nature of her kindness.
I had a similar experience after a grown-up party where the entertainment was magnificent, not at all beyond the givers' means, but such as few of their guests could return in kind. A lady amongst these, when saying farewell to her hostess, thanked her for the delightful evening she had spent.