a pair of
gold spectacles, _through_ which he looked when consulting the pamphlet,
and _over_ which he glanced when observing the effect of what he read on
Mrs Tipps.

"What do I find--eh? ha--yes--here it is--a Cornish auctioneer pushed
back a window shutter--these are the very words, madam--what more he did
to that shutter, or what it did to him, is not told, but he must have
come by _some_ damage, because he received 55 pounds. A London clerk
got his eye injured by a hair-pin in his daughter's hair--how suggestive
that is, madam! what a picture it calls up of a wearied toil-worn man
fondling his child of an evening--pressing his cheek to her fair head--
and what a commentary it is (he became very stern here) on the use of
such barbarous implements as hair-pins! I am not punning, madam; I am
much too serious to pun; I should have used the word savage instead of
barbarous.

"Now, what was the result? This company gave that clerk compensation to
the extent of 26 pounds. Again, a medical practitioner fell through the
floor of a room. It must have been a bad, as it certainly was a
strange, fall--probably he was heavy and the floor decayed--at all
events that fall procured him 120 pounds. A Cardiff agent was bathing
his feet--why, we are not told, but imagination is not slow to
comprehend the reason, when the severity of our climate is taken into
account; he broke the foot-pan--a much less comprehensible thing--and
the breaking of that foot-pan did him damage, for which he was
compensated with 52 pounds, 16 shillings. Again, a merchant of
Birkenhead was paid 20 pounds for playing with his children!"

"Dear me, sir!" exclaimed Mrs Marrot in surprise, "surely--"

"Of course, my good woman," said the elderly gentleman, "you are to
understand that he came by some damage while doing so, but I give you
the exact words of the pamphlet. It were desirable that a _little_ more
information had been given just to gratify our curiosity. Now, these
that I have read are under the head of `Accidents at Home.' Under other
`Heads,' we find a farmer suffocated by the falling in of a sand-pit,
for which his representatives received 1000 pounds. Another thousand is
paid to the heirs of a poor dyer who fell into a vat of boiling liquor;
while, in regard to smaller matters, a warehouseman, whose finger caught
in the cog-wheel of a crane, received 30 pounds. And, again, here is
1000 pounds to a gentleman killed in a railway accide