The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1884-09-19
SHAKING HANDS.
Some OF tho Various Modes.

The pump-handle shake Is the first
that deserves notice. 1t Is executed BY
taking friends hand and working It
up and down through an arc of fifty
degrees for about minute and half.
TO have Its nature. force. and charac-
ter this shake should be formed with q
fair and steady motion. No attempt
should be made to give 1t grace, and.
still less, variety, as tho few instances
in which the latter has been tried have
uniformly resulted In dislocating the
shoulder of the person on whom II
has been attempted. On the contrary,
persons who are partial to the pump
handle shake should be at some palma
to give an equable, tranquil movement
to the operation, which should on no
account be continued after perspira-
ton on the part of your friend has
commenced. .. Is. .. &. a
The pendulum motion may be men,
toned next, rs being somewhat similar
in character. but moving, as the name
indicates, In horizontal instead of o
perpendicular direction. 1t is execut-
ed by sweeping your hands horizontal
ly towards your friends, and after juno
ton is effected, rowing it from one
side to the other according to the
pleasure of the parties. The only
caution In its use which needs partic-
ularly to be given is not to insist on
performing It in place strictly paral-
lei to the horizon. You may observe .
person who had been educated to the
pump-handle shake, and another that
had brought home the pendulum from
a foreign voyage. They met, Joined
hands, and attempted to put them in
motion. They were neither of them
feeble men. One endeavored to pump
and the other to puddle; their faces
REDEEMED, the drops stood upon their
foreheads, and 1t was at last q pleasant
illustration of the doctrine of the COM
position of forces to see their heads
slanting into an exact diagonal, in
which line they ever after shook; but
it was plain to see there was no cordi-
atty in it, and, as is usually the case
with such compromises, both parties
were discontinued. ..s.. -
The tourniquet shake Is the next in
Importance. 1t derives its name from
the instrument made use of by surgeons
to stop the circulation of the blood in
the limbs aboIt to be amputated. 1t
is performed by clasping the hand of
your friend as far as you can In your
own, and then contracting the muscles
of your thumb, fingers, and palm until
you have induced any degree of COM
preston you may propose In the hand
of your friend. Particular care ought
to be taken, If your hand is as hard and
n htor oS O frui and hat of -
friend as small and soft as . maiden's,
not to make use of the tourniquet
shake to degree that will SHAKE the
small bones Of the wrist out of their
places. 1t is seldom safe to apply it to
equity persons. A hearty young friend
Of mine, who had pursued the study of
geology, had acquired an unusual
hardness and strength of hand and
wrist by the use of the hammer, on re-
turning from o scientific excursion,
gave his uncle (the equity one) the
tourniquet shake with such severity as
had well-nigh reduced the old gentle
mans fingers to powder, for which my
friend had the pleasure of being dis
inherited as soon as his uncle's fingers
got we'll enough to hold pen.
The cordial graphic is shake of
some interest. 1t is a hearty, bolster
Gus shake of your friends hand, &C
companied by modern pressure and loud
acclamations of welcome. 1t is an ex-
cellent travelling shake, and well
adapted to make friends; it is indis-
criminately performed.
The Peter Grevious is opposed to the
cordial grapple. 1t is pensive. tran
quill junction, followed by mild sub
sultory motion, a cast-down look, and
an inarticulate inquiry after your
friends health.
The prude major and prude minor
are nearly monopolized by ladies.
They cannot be accurately described,
but are constantly to be noticed in
practice. They never extend beyond
the fingers; and the prude major al
lows you to touch them only down to
the second joint. The prude minor al
lows you the whole of the finger. Con-
siderable skill may be shown in per-
forming them with nice variations,
such IS extending the left hand instead
of the right, or stretching new glossy
kid glove over the finger you extend.
I might 60 through q long list of the
grip royal, the sawmill shake, and the
shake with malice prepense, but they
are only Fictitious combinations of the
three fundamental forms already des-
cribed, as the pump-handle, the pendu-
lum, and the tourniquet. should
trouble you with few remarks In con-
clusion on the mode Of shaking hands
as an indication of character, but as !
see friend coming up the avenue who
is addicted to the pump-handle l dare