The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1875-12-16
Shaking Hands.

" hen 1t shall come to the turn of Amer
leans to erect a monument of gratitude to
France, we will hope to speak word for
Il modest priest now engaged in a crusade
against that unholy custom which originat-
ed in England and which has been CALI
csed under the name of ale shake hand"
When we think ct the fertility. ingenuity
and myentiveness of the American mind,
and when we remember what brilliant
intellect~ have gone wandering in vain at
tempts to mend our spelling. to establish
the universal language Of Alwato, to in
trodUce God into the constitution, and
otherwise manifest the resources of misdi-
Tectcd activity, we cannot but marvel
that it should have been left to foreigner
T. have conceived the happy idea of abol
i-hing al antiquated nuisance, and that
the signal to put our foot down on shak-
ing hands should have been given, not
from Massachusetts, but from France
A society has been formed tor the pur-
pose OF not shaking hands. and branch
societies should be organized in the Unit
cd States, with special department for
st. I.olis The mere act of taking hold
OF the human body by the handle and
pumping at it is offensive in its mildest
form, but the variations, amplifcations
and aggravations to which it naturally
leads before the playful fancy or the way
ward impulse OF the Great American
HandShaker turn self-respect to misan-
thopy, and make refinement an incum-
brance. There is first the vicious and vio-
lent hand-shaker, who is proud of his
grip and crunches the bones of unotfend-
ing friends with something Of that vindic-
tiyeness which we tondly tancied was con-
fined to the Ogres in the fairy stories HUI
man nature resents his brutality, but, on
the whole, prefers it to the clammy, loose
I0inted, purpOseless seizure which clumsi-
II envelopes ones hand and tumbles it
with INDIGESTION until it drops of its own
accord Then there are the pudgy men,
whose hand feels like leg of mutton
The inyalids who awaken conviction OF
danger to their enfeebled anatomies; the
punctilious men, who have been driven
by long series OF oEtrages to give you
only the tips of their fingers and an end
less array of peryersions, excuses and de-
gradations OF Misunderstanding too long to be
catalogued.
Now, all this is useless, when it is not
TeXatious, and should be done away with
IN the interests Of comfort and humanity.
Doubtless, hand shaking was good Gus
tom at the start and had reasons for its
Introduction and meaning in its use. When
members OF good society were in the hab-
it OF holding a sword hilt in the steel
gauntleted right hand, the ungloved and
extended palm was evidence in itself of
peace and friendliness. But nobody goes
armed nowadays nobody likes any one
the better, or mistrusts him any the less
for shaking hands with him. The univers-
ality OF the custom has produced the nat
ural result that those whom the world
would most willingly excuse from shak
ing hands with are Just the ones who 90
about with their paw extended, and whose
ideal OF public office would be to be
Town pump. The difference is merely one
degree, and not at all one of kind, be-
tween that touching and sympathetic
greeting which accomplished in Africa by
The rubbing of noses together. and the
vapid and supertluous nonsense of occu-
pying a mans hand and agitating it per-
pendicularly. st. Louis Globe-Democrat.