, 1880-10-17
CITY FACES AND COUNTRY FACES.

The London Spectator in q recent issue
takes up curious subject for study-name-
ly: the formation Of city faces. and how city
life affects faces as compared with country
life. It assumes that the humun countenance
when exposed for any length Of time to the
influence OF city life undereoes great modlh-
cations, as is seen by comparison OF city
faces with country faces. The latter, in
duenced by the freedom and solitude Of
country life, are less restrained and indrawn,
and the contours OF the face. such rs the out
lines Of the cheeks, the lips, and the region
Of the eyes. are left at liberty to expand nat
urally, while in the city these contours ara
almost always indrawn. The Spectator ac-
counts for this indraWing in two ways. Men
come together in cities for the purpose Of
money-getting, and money-getting Involves
conflict. In this conflict every man has to
fight for himself, and to fight every other
man. Even the most honest man in business
has to guard against others By the practice Of
d1ssimulation, and BY never showing his real
self to his fellows. Ills existence, therefore,
is contradictory. His heart and soul prompt
one course and he follows another. The re-
suit of this living OF two contradictory lives
Is thus stated:
So long as the body simply pura itself IN ac-
cord With the spontaneous Impulses OF tho inner
spirit, the wear and-tear Of 1t Is comparatively
tridu3: but as soou as it begins to act independ-
emily, or in OPPOSITION to those inner prompt
tn2s. the traces begin to manifest themselves.
OF the general character Of these trnces We
have already spoken: the renin--in OF the
mouth makes burrows in the cheeks where
Nature intended no furrows to be: the tuscruta-
bllity OF the eyes Is attained at the cost Of
wrinkles which are unknown to the most yener~
able savage. certain rdgidtty gradually set
ties upon the features. and the scope and varie-
ty OF expression become limited: because, the
face having grown accustomed to tho contra-
dtctlon rather shan & to tne declaration OF % wnat Is
for many varieties Ut declaration. The range or
the facial movements naturally is circum-
scribed.
In the second place, there are certain phys
ical conditions OF city life which have an
effect ;lpon the face. The impression of
every person unaccustomed to city life Is
one Of excitement combined with constant
sense Of danger. The hurrying throngs, the
crowded streets, the din Of strange noises,
the street cries, the dense crowds Of unfa~
mi1iar faces, the dangers that lurk in his
path at almost every step, the mysterious
alleys and hy-ways In which he sees strange,
repulsiye faces, the sudden gatherings and
dispersa1s Of crowds, engines tearing madly
through the streets, and thousand and one
other things that make up the panorama of
city life, keep the stranger in a constant
state OF excitement aud perturbation; but
the city man passes through all thase things
with face as unimpassioned as 1t he were
walking In the Great Desert OF Sahara.
Commenting upon this difference between
city and country faces, the Spectator says:
The countenance Of the city man, as he threads
bis way along the street, Is curiousiv impaesfve
At a first glance, 1t appears also to be unob-