hundred--who, when he is waiting or sitting unoccupied, refrains from
rattling or beating time with anything that happens to be handy,--his
stick, or knife and fork, or whatever else it may be. The probability
is that he is thinking of something.
With a large number of people, it is quite evident that their power of
sight completely dominates over their power of thought; they seem to
be conscious of existence only when they are making a noise; unless
indeed they happen to be smoking, for this serves a similar end. It is
for the same reason that they never fail to be all eyes and ears for
what is going on around them.