The Portland daily press., 1871-09-09

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"
There are great many people who plume
themselves on being what is called "readers
of character" We never knew professional
reader OF this sort who was not constantly de-
ceiving himself concerning his fellow crea-
ture. As general thing, faces have an OBJ
stinate way of not belrayIng the mental
or moral Il ats of their I assessors. Charac-
ter doesn't put all its goods, nor even small
proportion of them, in its shop window. 1he
idea OF reading at glance anything so OBJ
struce and complex ss the human heart! He
IS a wise maH who can understand hImself to
say nothing about reading other people.
There are few things in which we are so
apt to be mistaken as in the off hand esti-
mates we form of men and women. A man
of dissipated habits carries signs of dissipation
10 his countenance; but then, intense mental
labor, protracted anxiety, and lack of exercise,
will give the same jaded, wornout expression
to the face. A friend of ours-a famous STU
dent of physio2nomy-once pointed out TO
us, on the street, most eminent and exem-
plary divine, as being evidently member Of
| the sporting traternity,-"a fine old sport" he
| called him. Our friend was illustrating his
| ldtuOuS tHtOTy VI ICduluS ShaiaSbSA' h0
| committed the easiest OF errors.
1t so happens that man of the greatest
| determination will have a weak mouth, and
the most vacilating. and purposeesS disposi-
tion will go with finn set lip and defiant eye.
One OF the bravest of our young generals iu the
late war "a rough rider, and reckless i'll battle
to the verge OF madness-iS a gentleman so
unobtrusve in address, and so gentle of face,
that stranger, meeting HIM casually would
at once place HIM in that category OF tempo
rizing souls who are supposed incapable of
| saying boo to a goose. Bret Harte was as
| true to nature as to art in his description Of
| the denizens of 'RoaIing Camp" "The AS
| semblage Numbered abont a hundred men.
l One or two of these were actual fdgitiyes rom
l Justice; some were crimLnal.and All were reck-
less. Ply sically they exhibited no ind Ca
tion OF their past lives and character. The
| greatest scamp bad Raphael face, with a
profuson OF blond hair; Uakhurst, a gambler,
4 had the melancholy air and intellectual alb
straction Of Hamlet; the coolest and most
courageous man was scarcely over i've ieet
in height, with soft voice and an embar'
rassed timid manner. Per
haps In the minor details offingers, toes, ears
ETC., the camp may have been deficient, but
these slight omissions did not detract from
their aggregate their force. The stronsesl
man had but three fingers on bis lleh'
4 DcsI SHOt uaa Ndh ouc w.
few touches, hasty and unconsiaGcred as tney
seem, prove that the writer is a shrewu OBJ
server of human nature, reader OF charac er
in the best sense. The conventional nov. list,
who has studied novels rather than HE,
makes his villains the most O. fous barefaced
villains. Toe black sheep is so very black,
physically and morally, the wonder is that
the sanity hero or the angelo heroine does
not hand him over to the police tie instant
he appears. 1t is not so unknowingly that
Shakespeare drew bis rascals. 1t was not SO
he drew Iago,-outwardly most engaging.
soldierly, capital, frank eyed fellow, though
many actors, judging from their mouthiug
and hand-dog manner, seem to think that
Iago was a cheap transparent knave. As be
is usually represented on the boards, be
would not have deceived Othello, tor a quar-
| ter of an hour. Othello would have spit him
perpendicularly with his scimitar at an early
age OF the proceedings. Iago was a witty
plausible, fascinating, souliess villain, cool
adroit, and supby,-iust such villain, II
short, as the professional reader of characte
would select from a c.owd as being an open
faced honest man right good fellow
1t is only in books that the sharp iealureo
man is always irritable, and the .'"und Iaeel
mai is always jolly. In real life, it IS o'tei
| the scamp who has the "smile that is C.'d'u
ike and bland," and the choice spirit, the
heart of true gold, that wears uDprepossess
| inc CLAW about it-EreTU Sdturd an