The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1883-03-09
For the AgiS and Mtelligencer.
The FOreflnger.
BY KENELNi.

| BY KENELM.
The body has scarcely q member so useful
as the finger next the thumb on the right
hand. When you think of it you will notice
that there is scarcely an act of life in which
the fOretinger does not play an active part.
| Some have eulogized the thumb, which, while
very useful, is yet an awkward thing COM
pared with the graceful next door neighbor.
| The war has left us q generation of one
armed, fingeress men. Did you ever see an
old soldier try to hide the fact that he had
lost his fingers on the bloody field of battle
How awkwardy does he try to point out the
scenes around him with the precious middle
| finger! Oh, how sad his memory of the lost
member When your friend points out n
landscape, directing your attention to the
beauty of the forest, the glory of the sunset,
or the incoming ship riding the mighty
waves in graceful beauty, up rises the right
hand and instinctively out goes the ferefin-
ger, which serves as pointer and strong
friend in bringing to your mind more forci-
bly, the natural beauty of the scene. With
| out it the description is fiat
What man has forgotten the appearance
of his schoolmaster's forefinger? The mas
ter has long since departed. Yetyou remem-
| Der distinctly the exact shape, the scars, the
spots on the much chewed nail of that finger,
which came into regular service in pointing
| out to your struggling mental vision the let
| tiers of the alphabet, until your befuddled
brain conceived the notion that the A b C's
some how grew out of the end of the afore-
| mentioned member of the pedagogue's body
Other recollectons you have of this finger in
your early school days. Were you wanted
at the desk to receive admonition, instruction
or something more impressive Qlogging,) the
master didn't beckon with his thumb or his
elbow, but with that forefinger. Didn't you
wish you could cut it off when it moved
gracefully, oh, so gracefully, as it were drag
ging you to the rack2 If he raised you by
the coat collar or pulled your ears, this finger
did all it could to warm your blood and start
your tears But the foretinger has other uses.
1t is useful in petition and entreaty. Often
times has q little child been coa2ed to a
strangers knee by the skilful use Of the fore
finger, with smiling face behind it. On the
other hand how terrifying the outstretched
finger to tho cuprit, as he is directed to his
cell or to the scaffold. The forefnger is often
used instead of spoken language. A dumb
man with this finger can give you valuable
information. 1t saves much talk to point out
the road, the house, the book, the person.
So you see economy is encouraged by the in
dustrious use of this friend of ours. What
a comfort it would be to the talked'to death
population If some people would use their
foretingers instead of their tongues We
would have a rest much desired rest. The
forefinger must moreover be considered in
its relation to oratory and the useful occupa-
tons of life. Few speakers do we find who
can be effective without the use of gesticula-
ton. Wendell Phillips can, to be sure, hold
an audience for hours without n single gest-
ure with his hands, which he will clasp be-
L.. Il. LEU, tin,
Whether the subject under discussion be re-
ligious or scientific, humorous or dramatic,
gesticulation is Il strong ally to the spoken
language, and no part Of the hand is more
active nor more successful in attracting and
holding the attention than the index finger.
Some public speakers begin their discourse
with their foretingcr which they point at the
audience, as if they were punching them in
the ribs to attract their attention. Look
here" that's what the gesture means at this
stage of the Grafton. Pointed upward means
heaven pointed under foot means the other
place, Colonel Bob to the contrary notwith-
standing. How awkward to point upward
or downward with the thumb or little finger
in such an instance.
While the eye has startling effect in car
rying home the truth, yet when one of old
said, "Thou art the man," we can imagine
the self convicted sinner. Sorrow, joy,
pride and scorn, all employ this ever ready
humble servant, the foretinger, i'll every form
and manner of speech. In the trades this
finger is the great part of mans stock in
trade. A blacksmith with the brawny arm
and the hard iron fist, depends willingly upon
the delicatcly contrivod and useful ioreiinger
in the shaping of every piece of work, The
carpenter uses il, and can't do without it,
although he never estimates its value, until
n hayward splinter oran unruly tool happens
to intict wound which crippcs the afore-
| said finger.
The weaver must have this finger else he
| can't be n weaver. He depends upon this
more than any other finger. In fact what is
| very noticeable, the more IT fined and skillful
| the employment, the more necessary is the
| foretinger Letter writing is dependent upon
| it ms long as we are forbidden by our school
| teachers to grasp our pens in our fists, or be-
tween the second and third fingers. In
music also this finger is very active, being
called on to labor more often than any other
Numerous other instances gifts use might be
mentioned but these are sufficient to suggest
to the reader the utility of this one small part
| of the human body Nothing said by us can
be employed by the doubter to disparagc the
| importance of other parts of the body, but
| the careful thinker will, reasoning from the
| less to the greater come TO realize the vast
importance of the other larger parts of the
system From one finger we examine the
hand, its design, its utility, and from the hand
in successive steps to the arm, the muscular
system, the trunk of the body with its Won
ders of flesh and blood, from flesh and blood
to brain. from brain to thought from mind
| to soul, from soul to God who breathed into
man His breath of life, created tho human
body, planned beforehand the purpose of
each part, every bone, sinew, muscle, blood
vessel nerve. Every study of the body of
man, whether it be of the brain, the secret
cell from whence come the voices of thought,
or the smallest finger, ought to and does lead
the honest reasoner to think of God the
Designer.
| TIE LAW OF PUBLIC SALEs-In sale by
auction there are three parties, viz: The
owner of the property to be sold, the auc-