Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-08-31
A Werd About Faces.


mind but it was wiser observer, the
Hisest of observers, who wrote -
''There's 30 art
To End the minds construction In the face"
There are a great many people who
plume themselves on being what is called
"resders of character" We never knew
professional reader Of this sort who was
not constantly deceiving himself concern.
ing his fellow creatures AS general
thing, faces have an obstinate way Of not
betraying the mental or moral traits of
their possessors. Character doesn't put
all its goods, nor even a small proportion
of them, in its shOpwindow. The idea OF
reading at a glance anything SO abstruce
and complex Ms the human heart! He is
wise man 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
estimates we form of men and women. A
man of dissipated habits carries signs of
dissipation In his countenance; but, then,
intense mental l.bor, 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. most eminent and exemplary
divine, as being evidently member of the
sporting fraternity-"a fine old sport," he
called him. Our friend was illustrating
his iatuous theory Of reading character.
He committed the easiest of errors.
II SO happens that man OF the greatest
determination will have weak mouth,
and the most vacllating and purpOseless
disposition will go with firm-set lip and
defiant eye. One of the bTavest of our
young generals in the late war-a rough
rider, and reckless In battle TO the verge
of madncss-is gentleman so unobtrusive
in address, and so gentle Of face, that a
stranger. meeting him casually, would at
once place him in that category of tenn
PORTING souls who are supposed incapable
OF saying boo 10 a goose. Bret llarte was
az true 10 nature as to art in his desCrip-
ton of the denizens Of Roaring Camp:
"The asscmblage numbered about hun
dred men. One or two Of these were &C
tual fugitives 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 profusion OF
blond hair; Oakhurst, a gambler, had the
melancholy air and intellectual abstraction
of a Hamlet; the coolest and most coura.
geous man was scarcely over five feet In
height, with soft voice and an cmbarrass-
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 unconsidered as they
seem, prove that the writer is shrewd OBJ.
server Of human nature, a reader OF charac.
ter, in the best sense. The conventional
novelist, who has studied novels rather than
life, makes his Williams the most obvious,
! barefaced Williams. The black sheep is 80
very black, physically and morally, the
| wonder is that the sanity hero or the
angelic heroine does not hand him over TO
the police the instant he appears. " il
not so unknowingly that Shakespeare
drew his rascals. II was not 20 he drew
Iago-outwardly most engaging, soldier
ly, CAPITAL, frank eyed fellow, though
many actors, judging by their moutbing
and Eapg dog manner, seem TO think that
Iago was cheap transparent knaye AS
he Is usually represented on the boards
he would not have deceived Othello for
quarter of an hour. Othello would
! have split him perpendicularly with his
| scimiter at an early stage OF the proceed
ings. Iago was a witty, plausible, fasci.
| mating, soulless villain, cool, adroit, and
| sunny-just such villain, in short, as the
professional reader Of character would
| feleet from crowd as being an open. faced
honest man and right good fellow
II Is only in books that the sharp. fea
tured man Ia always irritable, and the
round-faced man always jolly. In rea
life, it is often the scamp who has thu
"smile that is childlike and bland" ant
the choice spirit, the heart Of true gold
that wears unprepossessing clay about it
--Epeyy SatUrday.