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    ( 179 )

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    XXVII.—CHANCE ENCOUNTERS. a .

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    Do you ever speculate on the character a...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    ( 179 )

    ( 179 )

    Xxvii.—Chance Encounters. A .

    XXVII . —CHANCE ENCOUNTERS . a .

    Do You Ever Speculate On The Character A...

    Do you ever speculate on the character and position of the people -withwhom you come daily and hourly into contactfor a minute

    , , only , and then part from , never perhaps to meet again in life , or , if meeting"certainly never to recognise them ? The railway

    passengers ; the , people in steamers , omnibuses , waiting at shops to be served , & c . If you go about much alone , you will find an endless

    interest in the little traits which sometimes reveal so much ; the chance wordsor sometimes only lookswhich would pass

    unobserved by ninety , -nine people out of a , hundred . I am the hundredth ; and I will tell you why . Matters of deeper personal

    interest absorb me too much to be able to think about them when I must of necessity keep -a watch upon exterior things . If I opened

    _~ fche great volume of my own autobiography , the probability is very great thatcarried bthe subjectI might walk straight past

    . the place of , my _aiDpointment away y , or find myself , drawn up at Islington when I had meant to be on the alertand alight at Tottenham Court

    , itoad . My life would not be worth a day ' s purchase if I once allowed myself the ( truly ) dangerous luxury of thinking very deeply

    when crossings had to be passed and mail carts to be avoided . Nothe other lan suits me best . The little chance stories that I

    selves read ; , or so fancy that I p I have read not , endless even to in turn variet the y , and flitting but fresh by characters of thempage ,

    , appear uncalled for , and pass away in their turn , one effacing anotherand then all swept utterly away when my walk or journey

    concludes , and I become an actor again instead of a mere spectator . Many hours , have I passed in a succession of these harmless

    speculations ; and scarcely one do I remember five minutes after ! But I will tell you of a few which chancemore than any special interest

    , above others , seems to have fixed on my mind . I was in an omnibus the other day going from Islington into the City , at about mid-day ,

    when the rush of " bankers' clerks" and "• commercial gentlemen " is overand when it . is too late for parties going' to London Bridge

    "fco take , the rail for a day in the _coimtry . Business is begun ; the tide will set back at five or so ; and the holiday people will return

    still later , with sleepy children and large bunches of sweetbrier and wall-flowers . The omnibus therefore was nearly empty when it

    stopped to take up two passengers . First , a little , shrivelled old womanvery feeble and very totteringscarcely able to mount the step

    but for , her companion ' s help . The other , , her daughter apparently , followed more briskland after placing the old woman in one

    corner , seated herself y , opposite . I saw what it must be : the old woman—evidently the inhabitant of an _almshouse or some charitable

    institution—was brought out for the day by her daughter . Poor old amounting creature 1 almost ! it was to imbecilit pitiable y to , and see something the look of scared childish and pleasure startled , K 2

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 1, 1860, page 179, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01111860/page/35/