Then I am right; the laugh ceased as soon as you gave way to compassion, and of course this thoughtless unfeeling mirth may be restrained. Indeed if you had considered a moment, you would have felt the impropriety, and been ashamed of yourself; what, laugh when a respectable old man had hurt himself!—Dr. Bartlett now entered, and we changed the subject. In the evening we went a walking together, and passed by a miserable hut, at the door of which a poor old blind man stood. His grey hair hung about his hollow cheeks, which poverty seemed to have deeply marked; it was wet with the labours of the day, for he had been turning a wheel, as I found afterwards; his trembling hands were supported by a crutch, on which his chin rested, and his clouded eyes were turned up to heaven without receiving a ray of light. You shall hear the conversation that this sight produced. CHARLES. What unhappy wretches there are in the world! look at that old man, cousin. JAMES. You are always looking at what gives you pain. CHARLES. He is blind and old, I cannot help pitying him. JAMES. But your pity will not restore his sight: let us go on, it is growing dark. CHARLES. No, I must first ask him if he has any children. JAMES. Nonsense! Why should you ask him such a question? CHARLES. Because it would relieve me to find that he had good children; I should not then think him so unhappy, they will certainly wait on him, serve, and comfort him. We next spoke to the old man, and I heard with pleasure that he had a worthy daughter, who works hard to maintain him, and he himself, sometimes, turns a wheel, and does other things, that blind men can do. My cousin’s fondness for tricks now led him to commit an act of cruelty that made me very angry. I gave the blind man a trifle, and James, when he left the house, felt in his pocket a little while, and then flipped something into his hand, saying, there is a guinea for you. Joy was visible in every feature of the old man’s face. We stepped forward. How I love you! exclaimed I, you have done a noble action. And do you think I would give a guinea to a stranger, replied he. I interrupted him, with surprise,—You told him so; what did you give him? It was only a new shilling.