The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1875-03-27

mand with elenehed fists, inenacing all
sorts Of anger and castigation it forgotten
or disobcyed; aud Others with an open
hand, but straight aud tense, that means
the same thing, only less coarsoly faidi
others again with the foreGuger uplifted
like rod. Some emphasize a s,atemen,
by striking their closed fist against the
open palm Of the other hand, some offer
themselves as guarantee of the truth of
what they have said by aingiug back their
coats aud sticking their thumbs in their
waisteoat armholcs, drumming with their
free fingers on their chests. This Is an
action much affected by Snowy, pOrtly men,
who like to offer themselves for contem.
plation, thinking you might see worse
specimens than themselves without taking
much trouble about it. And some, when
they command or enforce, plant their feet
wide apart, aud thrust their hands deep
into their pockets as their expression of
inviueible solidity, aud you had better
mind what you are about and do as you
are bid, else it will be as bad for you as
for the typical vessel of porcelain knock
ing its poor, stupid fragile head, against
the sides of the brazen pot.
Shaking hands is study in itself The
pump-handle shake that goes near to dislo-
cate your shoulder stands at one end of the
scale the limp, fabby, dead hand, suffered
to drop into yours and out Of il again, re-
turning no pressure, with straight fingers,
neryeless, lifcless, stands at the other In
between you have the variatiobs--the
warm and friendly squeeze which digs
your rings into your flesh, and nearly kills
you for the injury done your gouty joints;
the hand that swallows yours like huge
mouth, wherein you feel devoured, and
the hand that barely touches you with
the ends of its fingers, as if you were
something abhorrent and to be avoided;
the hand that makes dash at you blindly
in the air, and that is as likely to clutch
hold of your wrist as your fingers, or may
be it strangles your thumb in its gripe,
aud thinks il has done its mission grace
fully; the hand that seems to hesitate
before it lays itself coldly in your grasp, as
if it were not quite sure such things we're
proper, and it had to reflect before it com
mitted itself; the two hands that come to
you outspread in jubilant pleasure at the
meeting, SO delightful in their friendly
pressure If sincere, but alas aud alas how
often is this gesture Q mere mockery, and
Glow wish that odious creature had not
come !" the verbal commentary after your
departure on the acted gesture Of welcome;
the hand that holds yours so long you do
not know where to look nor what TO do,
making nice little caressing shakes aud
pressures in between-you, if you are
young, or shy, or sensitive, on thorns
all the while; and the hand that drags
itself suddenly away, as if it feared hand.
cuffs; all these are some Of the more salient
styles Of hand-shaking as they occur to us;
but each person can supplement the list
for himself, and add to it characteristics
too minute for word-painting
There are some anomalous hands which
strike one forcibly as dscords in the har-
monies Of the frame, strange "sports" in
the human being to whom they belong;
such as those of broad thick palm with
clumsy spatulous fingers, at times seen as
the members of dainty little persons; with
their converse, the fine pointed fingers
and well-shaped hands to be found on rare
occasions among the working classes.
Some milliners have hands Of this fine
kind, as also carpenters and skilled me-
chanics. They seem to belong to them by
right, as the signs whereby they have
chosen their trade of mechanical deGness;
though one of the best cngravers on wood
we have has cushioned, bulbous, upturned
inger-tips which are more like toes than
fingers, telling strongly against the obser-
vations We have just put. We may here
also note the fine fingers of pickpockets,
which, in their turn, are the signs of their
disastrous calling. No man with those
thick and clumsy hands spoken of before
could be a successful pickpockct. He has
to have fine aexibly pointed fingers, if he
would dive into the pockets of his luckless
victims without discovery; broad hand
and spatulous tips would be fatal from the
beginning. We see the same kind and
character Of hand with conjurors and in
most professions requiring special delicacy
of touch. And, for further puzzle and
anatomical contradiction, we have beauti-
fully shaped hands with these clumsy and
ill-shaped fingers, and sometimes fine and
graceful fingers with thick and clumsy
hands.
The long fingers, with large knuckles
and narrow pinched waists in between,
are painful indications 10 the matter of
health. They threaten consumption; bclo-
ken scroiula; are never associated with a
robust physique, whatever the appearances
of things may be, When the tips are very
pointed they are like the hands of skelc
ton, and suggest the most distressing
thoughts. We have seen hands Of this
kind, with the skin just wrapped loosely
over the bones, that were fearful to look
at and terrible to touch. Opposite to
these are the fingers swollen by chiblains
into the semblancc Of small sausages, where
there are no knuckles at all, and the whole
jointless member is like stuffed pincush.
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