The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-06-20
Classifying Men.

Tho 1asf;np reolpt that we CANNOT hio"
mora of the bright. sincere, ana genuine
,aorla n the world is Increased by the fact
that they are all different from each other'
WAS It not Madame de SevigBe who said slie
had loved several different women lot se'etal
different qualitiesY Every real pelsohLio 'i
there are persons, as there are fruits, ti'l nave
no distin gushing favor, Bigrc gooseDefries-.
has distinct quality, and the ppSpg u ~
always like the discovery OF new islaha 20
the yoyagcr. Tile physical world we sllali
exhaust some day, having written descrip-
ton of every foot of Il TO Which we can
turn; but we shall never gel tlle ahlerehl
qualities OF people into biographies o,iS-
tionary, and the making acquaintance WIN
a human being will never cease 10 be
on exciting experiment. WeIcann0t even
classify men so as to aid us much in our
estimate Of them. The efforts in this direc-
ton are ingenious but unsatisfactory. il
hear that a man is Iymphatic or nervous
sanguine, cannot tell therGirom whether
sbolj like and trust him. He may produce
nbyenoIopical chart showing that his knobDy
head is the home of all the virtues, and that
the vicious tendencies are represented ny
holes I'm his. Uranium, and yet ] cannoeeDe
surc that he will not be us disagreeable as If
chronology had not been invented. fee!
sometimes that phrenology Is the refuge OF
mcdiocrity. Its charts are almost us mis-
leading concerning character rs photographs.
And photography may be described Us the
art which enables commonplace medlOcrlty
TO look like genius. The heayy:jowled man
with shallow cepebrlm has only to incline his
head so that the lying instrument can select
a favorable focus to appear in the picture
with the brow Of sage ana the chln o.
poet. OF all the arts for mlnlsterlng 10
human vanity the Photographic is the most
useful. but Il IL a poor aid in the revelation
of character. You shall learn more OF
mans real nature by seeing him walk once
up the bread aisle Of his church to bis pew
on Sunday than by studying his photograph
for month.
No, we do not get any certain standard OF
men by chart OF their temperaments. IL
will hardly answer to select wife by the
color of her hair; though it be by nature as
red az cardinals hat, she may be no more
constant than if it were dyed. The farmer
who shuns all the lymplatic beauties in his
neighborhood and selects to wife the most
nervous sanguine, may find that she is I'M
willing to get up in the winter mornings and
make the Kitchen fire. Many Il man, even in
this scientific age which processes to label us
oil. has been cruelty deceived in this way.
Neither the blondes nor the brunettes act &C
cording to the advertisement OF their tenn
peraments, The truth is that men refuse to
come under the cassiications Of the pseudo
scientists, and all our new noinenclatures do
not add much to our knowledge. You know
what 10 eXpect-if the comparison will be
pardoned-of horse with certain points,
but you wouldn't dare 60 on journey with
man merely upon the strength Of knowing
that his temperament was the proper mixture
of the sanguine and the phlegmatic. Science
is not able to teach us concerning men as it
teaches us Of horses, though l am very far
from saying that there are not traits OF noble
ness and Of meanpess, that run through fami-
lies, and can be- calculated to appear in indi-
yiduals with absolute certainty; one family
will be trlsty and another tricky all through
its members for generations; noble strains
and ignoble strains are perpetuated. When
we hear that she has eloped with the stable
boy and married him, we are apt to remark,
swell, she was a Bogardus," And when
we read that she has gone on mission and
has died, distinguishing herself by some ex-
traordnary devotion to the heathen ut Uiiji,
we think it sufficient to say" Yes, her mother
married into the Smiths" But this knowl"
edge comes Of our experience Of special tani-
lies, and stands us instead no further.--From
Warmers Backlog Studies, in Scrf6ner's
for EyI,