All in the attitude

Crayons and I are reading At the Back of the North Wind. The boy Diamond's father has had to find work in the city, which means moving to a small, shabby apartment over the mews where he parks his cab. Diamond, his mother and the new baby have been away staying with his aunt, and they are now arriving at their new home for the first time.

IT WAS late in the afternoon when Diamond and his mother and the baby reached London....when he got to the mews, he could not help being a little dismayed at first; and if he had never been to the back of the north wind, I am afraid he would have cried a little. But instead of that, he said to himself it was a fine thing all the old furniture was there. And instead of helping his mother to be miserable at the change, he began to find out all the advantages of the place; for every place has some advantages, and they are always better worth knowing than the disadvantages. Certainly the weather was depressing, for a thick, dull, persistent rain was falling by the time they reached home. But happily the weather is very changeable; and besides, there was a good fire burning in the room, which their neighbour with the drunken husband had attended to for them; and the tea-things were put out, and the kettle was boiling on the fire. And with a good fire, and tea and bread and butter, things cannot be said to be miserable.