Old Man Travelling

Since everyone else is writing on the Prelude, I figured I try my hand at this poem and how the difference between the two versions changes the poem.
The poem is strange- it's all about observing this old man that is traveling past the speaker. The only interaction the speaker has is when his curiosity is piqued and asks the old man (15) where he is off to. This is one of two major changes between the 1798 and the 1800 version. The first directly quotes old man, whereas the latter version has the speaker retelling what the old man has said to him.
The only other change is that of the title: Old Man Travelling, Animal Tranquility and Decay, A Sketch. In 1800, Wordsworth decided to leave off "Old Man Travelling." Besides making the subject less obvious, it really points out something I didn't even pay much attention to on the first poem- Animal Tranquility and Decay. It seems to me that the nature of this man, as if he were a part of the countryside, is the real point. Line 1-2 point out that not even the birds that are pecking along the road pay attention to him; he might as well be another bird hopping along, searching.

AH! I just discovered that in 1798- his son is dying in the hospital versus 1800 he is lying in the hospital. This leads me to conclude that in the first (1798) he wants to see his son before the son dies, and different kind of journey than what I envision for the second  (1800) where his is going to his son, who in the hospital cannot travel to his father, the old man can say his goodbyes before nature final takes its toll on him. That would make a better case for the tranquility that has settled on the old man in his decay as he makes his final journey.