Morning journal and courier., 1882-07-18

Jones drops in for an afternoon call he does not really want to see Jones when he comes I shake hands with him, more or less when
 he leaves, in five minutes. he shakes hands
 with me, less or more. ] hate Jones' hand,
 because it is always damp; Jones knows that
 well as do, and sometimes offers me his
 hand gloved-but l detest gloved hand l
 had rather not shake hands at all. If I
 must do so, will do it once, and no more
 no one but a lover wants to shake hands
 more than once in five minutes
 But Jones has a detestable habit of finger
 ing on his way out He gets up to go-
 give him my hand. It's overl No it's not.
 A picture catches his eye. He turns and
 my word ?" "Ye-as," say half accom-
 panying him to the door. "Who's it by?"
 "O-by-Smearum, R. A." Dear me! he
 painted-a-w did he paint?" Don't
 know; paints everybody ;-paints himself "
 ''Really-a-goodbye !' Shakes hands again
 but, before he has got through the door, he remembers message from his wife. I'll see him out he shan't get into the room again. I go into the passage with him. I accompany him to the door. lie shakes hands again at the door. There ought to be some rule about this. It should be understood that l once IS enough in visit. Of course, know we often shake hands with 0 man to
 finish an interview andibow him out Well, | that IS for our own convenience, although il does not always act-just as mans alter
 dinner speech is sometimes applauded rap turously in the middle to make him sit 1 down-but hedoes not always sit down.j ! Those people who shake hands should con ! sider their ways. I hate a man, for instance, l who cant leave off shaking hands. He be- l gins so heartily, you think he will soon bs
 done. He relaxes his grip, you attempt tc l withdraw; but Ae tightens 1t again he holds l you in vice. You begin to shake him ul ! and down, when you suddenly find he has ! dropped your hand like hot potato, and 1 you are left shaking the air This is bad ! enough, but the wooden shake is almost worse. hand is stretched out and you 1 get nothing but the sensation of bone-angu ! lar bone there is no flesh and blood, nc ! grip-the hand might belong to a lay figure ! Then object to the crusher. Ladies suffer l more than gentlemen from this festive ''bore' l because they wear more rings he seizes you l impulsively, and manages to crunch you, | fingers vertically one on the top of the other ! You don't like to scream if you are girl, ol | to show displeasure if you are man, but yor ! are dreadfully hurt, and you suffer what Mrs ! Camp called ''all the tortoises of the imposi ! ton" fro m the oppressor's etfuslve but iroI | grip. Then there is the f1abby, pulselesl ! shake, which means nothing, or means ''yor \ are less than nothing to me- and I hope I an ] the same to you." I am not SO absurd as to suppose that ", l can always regulate our hand shaking by l rule, so that our acts will always be indica l tive of our moods but I notice in good so l ciety growing tendency to reduce hand l shaking to minimum, and then make i ! genuine as far as it goes, but as formal ai I possible, and think this is step in the righ l direction and worthy of imitation. Deel | feeling will never fail to find fitting occasions
 but the less importation, ,there is of spuriou 1 feeling or offensive familiarity into what i
 usually merely polite formality, the bet ter.
 The damp-handed man should remembe
 that his hand is damp the fabby, irresolut
 creature should try to improve his style o l grip; the impulsive and muscular Christian | should reeollect the agony of scrunche
 rings; and most people might be legs ire quent and more brief with advantage. Il l England weshake hands oftener than we bow
 in France, they bow oftener than they shak l hands, 1 believe the two methods might b iudiciously worked. I think I should like little more heartiness and a little less polite
 ness abroad. and perhaps a little more polite 1 ness, with little less anxiety to appea l hearty at home.