106 Darknefs and Light.

wonderful? And they can be taught all thefe
things much more eafily than you would imagine,
for it is really true that when one of the fenfes has
been taken away, the others by having all the exer-
cife thrown upon them, become fo fharp and acute,
they do twice their ufual work, if I may fo exprefs
it. This is a merciful difpenfation of Providence,
which renders the lofs of the one that is gone
much lefs hard to bear. And does it not teach
us alfo, what a valuable thing conftant practice is ?
Neither you nor I can feel or hear half fo clearly
as blind people can, who practife feeling and hear-
ing on fo many occafions where we fave ourfelves
the trouble, by ufing fight inftead.

To return to Roderick. You perhaps expected
to hear that he fretted and petted very much after
he was firft blind, but really it was not fo; and
though occafionally he may have grumbled a little,
it was only when he was flightly peevifh, as chil-
dren will fometimes be, and I believe he would
have found fomething to grumble about then, even
if he had feen as well as you do.

Befides, as I faid before, the knowledge of his
misfortune came upon him by degrees ; and after
he had got ufed to it, he did not think much about
it. When the family moved to the great town,
Roderick had as it were to begin his blind leffons
over again, for he had to learn to remember all
about the rooms and the furniture there ; but with
a kind little brother or fifter always at hand to help
him he foon became expert in the town houfe too,