The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1856-04-23
THE HANDWRITING OF w0MAH.

Il will only just ask you whether you
ever saw letter written under the influ-
ence Of mental agitation which did not
materially differ from letter written by
the same hand under ordinary circum-
stances! Now, if you can clearly trace
the disturbance Of mind in the disorderly
lines and tremulous touches Of the pen,
mending gaps here and there in the
words, and trying 10 giveN fictitious stead
mess and utility to the whole, you must
admit the existence of that mys, e,ions
sympathy which, operating through the
nervous organization, communicates to
the shee; Of paper, more or less, the im-
press of the immediate emotion. If, or
the contrary, there is no change apparen,
and ihe hand that guides the pen is as
firm in the hour Of suffering as in the sea
son OF care and prosperity, may we not
fairly accept it as visible proof Of that
impurterbable strength which locks On
tempesls and IS never shaken
"The handwriting, therefore, is an
equally certain clue to the accidental con-
d't'ons and the essential attributes Of
character. And contend that it is even
more perfect reflex o: the latter, which
1t betrays unconsciously, than of the for
mer, which we arc generally on our guard
against, and take some pains to disguise.
Low else are we TO account for the in
finite variety of hands in the letters of our
correspondents? Most men are taught to
write upon much the same system, vet
there are hardly two who write alike, en-
cept by the force Of constant intercoursc,
similarity OF habits, and ioppery Of imila-
tion. IL there be not some occult connec.
ton between the moral nature and the
penmanship, how is it that hand writings
grow up into such distinctive ard individ-
ualized forms, resolving themselves into
pen and-ink features as marked in their
expression as the ita,ares OF the face,
which are supposed to be an index to the
mind Z
"Ihe only exception ! know Of ON n
large scale is to he found in the hand.wri.
ting of women, which is usually uniform
and vague, evas i've and unmeaninc and
distinguished 10y a superfluity Of hair
strokes and punctuation, or none at all,
and aprodigal expenditure Of space. But
here, again, Dennis, ! discern a curious
confirmation Of my theory. II the hand
writing Of women battles all attempt at
speculation on their characters, don't you
see that it is on that account all the more
faithful to lis source; since it is notorious
that, from the beginning of time to the
present year OF grace, the same battling of
speculation has been going on in regard
to women themselves. 1t is said that the
grand aim Of female education is TO teach
women to conceal their natures and, if
this be true, their education has undoubt
edly been carried to the height Of perfec-
ton in this Article Of hand writing.
"The diversity Of mems hands is not
more striking than their particular pecu-
hsrities. Here is a miniature note which
occupies three lines and half in the CEN
ire Of the sheet; written in the ordinary
way, it would fill couple Of pages. The
letters are not larger ,l.an the he ad Of the
smallest pin. 1t must be read by the
help OF a powerful lens, which will disclose
to you symmetry ard exactness of form
that cannot fail TO awaken admiration and
surprise. Now, you may take my word
for it that the writer has faculty for
sma!l aud minate things. by which he is
mai ked out from the herd of his associ
a,es, and upon which he plumes himself
as speciality. He has a genius for dates,
for little facts, for genealogics, for precision
in dress, diciion, or personal habits; he is
s,ickler for routine; man milincr in his
tastes; sort Of wonderful calculating
boy in some nook or corner or Of q fa.
veEite passaa; or something else in which
this express quality of nea;ness, or elabo-
rate trifing, or close packing, shows Itself
conspicuously. Turn from this hand wri.
ting to another, which sprawls in loose
and gigantic characters over the sheet, and
in which the actual quantity of matter
hears about the same proportion to the
surface it covers rs FalstaG's pennyworth
of bread to his Immortal ocean of sack.
Have you the least doubt, whatever, that
this is n rash4 wiId, incons'derste, harum
scarum individaal; that his thoughts, such
as they are, are always either in terrible
hurry or in state Of finextricablc confu.
sDn; that logic is a terra incognita to
him; that he is pursued through life by
an inevitable fatality-such as leaving
something behind which he ought To. ia ke
with him when he is going on a Journey,
or arriving just in time TO be too late !;
mistaking one thing or another; forget
ting his own name asking afectionate,y
after the health Of q dear friend that died
last week. getting the tad Of his coat per
pstua'ly caught in the door he is closing
behind him !; planting his chair, with
alarming indifference TO tie admonitioas
Of experience, upon the skirts Of ladies'
dresses, and connaistipa thousand social
taetes, Arising from tie want Of fore
thought and the active mfAience OF a
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