"Ah!" cries the
gentleman, "very well, I thank you. How do you do? I did not recognize
your voice." Observable, the English caution, shown in the gentleman's
not vouchsafing to say, "Very well, thank you!" till he knew his man.
What was the after life of the young man, whom Jesus, looking on,
"loved," and bade him sell all that he had, and give to the poor, and
take up his cross and follow him? Something very deep and beautiful
might be made out of this.
December 31st.--Among the beggars of Liverpool, the hardest to encounter
is a man without any legs, and, if I mistake not, likewise deficient in
arms. You see him before you all at once, as if he had sprouted halfway
out of the earth, and would sink down and reappear in some other place
the moment he has done with you. His countenance is large, fresh, and
very intelligent; but his great power lies in his fixed gaze, which is
inconceivably difficult to bear. He never once removes his eye from you
till you are quite past his range; and you feel it all the same, although
you do not meet his glance. He is perfectly respectful; but the
intentness and directness of his silent appeal is far worse than any
impudence. In fact, it is the very flower of impudence. I would rather
go a mile about than pass before his battery. I feel wronged by him, and
yet unutterably ashamed. There must be great force in the man to produce
such an effect.
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