A little boy was carrying a number of plates and dishes on a board, when the latter unluckily slipped from his grasp, and all the crockery lay in fragments at his feet.

At first, the poor fellow was so frightened that he stood like a column, gazing with a fixed look at the pieces, and then began to cry most bitterly.

The passers-by stopped, it is true, to look at the unfortunate child, but did not evince the least compassion; they laughed, and went on.

In any other place, they would have raised a little subscription, or at least pitied and consoled him, but certainly would not have seen anything to laugh at.

The circumstance is of itself a mere trifle, but it is exactly by such trifles that we are often enabled to form a true estimate of people's real characters.
Another adventure, also, but of quite a different and most horrible kind, happened during my stay in Valparaiso.
As I have already remarked, it is the custom here, as well as in many countries of Europe, to sentence criminals to hard labour on public works.