Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1871-08-31
A Word About Faces.

SOME one calls the face the index of the
mind; but it was wiser observer, the
Wisest Of observers, who wrote -
'There's no art
To find the minds construction in the face"
plume themselves on being what is called
"readers Of character" We never knew
q professional reader of this sort who was
not constantly deceiving himself concern.
ing his fellow creatures. As a general
thing, faces have an obstinate way of not
hetr:ylny the mental or moral traits of
their po>sessore. Character doesn't put
all It's goods, nor even a small proportion
OF them, in its shop-window. The idea of
reading at glance anything so abstruce
and complex a3 the human heart! He is
WISE man who can understand himself.
to say nothing about reading other peoule.
There arc few things in which we are
so apt to be mistaken as in the of: hand
estimates we form of men and women. A
man OF dissipated habits carries signs of
dissipation in his countenance; but then,
Intense mental labor, protracted anxiety,
and lack Of exercise will give the same
jadec, worn out expression to the face. A
friend of ours-a famous student of physi-
ognomy once pointed out to us, on the
street, a most eminent and exemplary
divine, as being evidently member of the
sporting fraternity-"a fine old sport" he
called him. Our friend was illustrating
ms iatu"us theory of reading character.
lie committed the easiest Of errors
1t SO happ Us that u man Of the greatest
determination will have weak mouth.
and tn" most vacillating and purpnsvless
disposition will 60 with: firm.set lip and
defiant eye. One of the bravest of our
young generals in the late war-a rough
rider, and reckless in battle to the verge
OF madness-is gentleman so unobtrusivs
IN address, and so gentle of face, that
stranger. meeting him casually, would at
once place him in that category of tenn
porizing souls who are supposed incapable
or saying boo to goose. Bret IEartc was
as true TO nature as to art in his dcscrip-
tlon OF the denizens of "Roaring Camp:
The assemblage numbered about hun
dred men. One or two of these were ac-
tual iugilives from justice. some were Grim
inal, and all were reckless. Physically,
they exhibited no indication of their past
lives and character. The greatest scamp
had Raphael face, with a profusion of
blond hair; Oakhurst, gambler had the
melancholy air and intellectual abstraction
OF Hamls t; the coolest and most coura-
gcous man was scarcely over five feet in
height with a soft voice and an elnbarrass-
ed, timid manner. Perhaps in the minor
details of fingers, toes, ears, etc, the
camp may have been deficient, but these
slight omissions did not detract from their
aggregate force. The strongest man had
but three fingers on his right hand; the
best shot had but one eye" These few
touches, hasty and uncOnsiClered as thew
seem, prove that the writer is shrewd Oh
server Of human nature reader Of charac-
ter, in the best sense, The conventional
novelist, who has studied novels Father than
life, makes his Williams tho most obvious.
barefaced Williams. The black sheep is 81,
very black, physicnllv ard morally, the
wonder is that the s,intlv hero or the
angelic heroine docs not hand him over to
the police the instant he appears. It is
not 80 unknowingly that Shakespeare
draw his rnecnls. 1t WAS not SO he drew
lago-"ntwarlly most engaging, soldier.
ly, ca'l':l, frark.cycd fellow, though
many Hrt"r', Judging by their mouthing
and s."ny deg manner, seem to think that
la5o WHH cheap transparent knave AS
he is VI nelly r, represented on the boards.
he would not have deceived Othello for
quarter Of an hour Othello would
have split him porpendicularly with his
scimiter at an carly stage Of the proceed.