The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1885-10-09
CHARACTER IN WRITING.
Of the Theory That ren-
manship Is the Key to Traits OF Mind.

Contradiction Of the Theory That PEN
manship Is the Kcy to Traits OF Mind.
III. Van Santvoord in The Currentl
One who studies the peculiarities Of hand
writing will readily dissent from the theory
that character is revealed In q mans hand.
In the scrawl of the average penman the
character Of the writer Is as hopelsssly dis
guised as the identity Of the man in the
iron mask When are we to hear the last
OF the quackery Of the chiromancists who
make the human hand the oracle Of their
Cagliostrian wisdom, and q mans hand
writing the text Of his moral character and
key to his peculiar bent of minda Des-
barolles is perhaps the highest living au-
thority on this branch Of human folly. He
succeeds In making his books so readable
that there Is some excuse for examining his
data
Amid the mass Of rubbish with which
Desbarolles' "Mysteries Of the Hand" Is
padded out, the author exposes his singular
weakness and fatuity In the Judgment Of
which he relieves himself concerning Bis
marck's traits Of mind and character from
studying q wretchcd fac-simile Of one of tho
chancellor's letters "Look at the down.
ward slope Of the letters" he says; ut
means misery and ruin-else why did Ma
poleon slope down tho paper when he was
down In luckP He Is confident that there
Is no cunning In Bismarck, "from the way
in which he forms the tail end of his letters;
still, the winding, serpentiue lines show that
he Is diplomatist"
That men of undoubtsd quality have
fairly convinced themselves of the signif.
cant meaning conveyed In q scrap Of hand
writing whom adduced in support Of some
secret trait OF character, no reasonable be-
ing denies. Tho hackneyed saying. @Give
Talleyrand line of mans handwriting
and he will engage to ruin him." is clearly
an extravant assertion; and yet Tallyrand
did not believe 1t possible for q man to dis
guise his character in the strokes Of his pen.
Chesterfield thought IL possible for an or
dinary penman to counterfeit almost any
style OF handwriting, and that the quality
Of mans penmanship did not touch upon
the question Of character at all Here we
have two extreme views shared by men Of
quick instincts, each Of whom was consid-
cred we'll versod In tho devious ways Of
mankind
Between tho two views, however, there
may be some medal ground, and what the
elder pisraeli said on this head over fifty
years ago will stand repeating. "Our hand
writings" he observes, @ars as monotonous
as our characters In the present habits Of
society. Tho true physiognomy Of hand
writing will be lost among the rising gen.
eration." Take the autographs Of . half
dozen Of our merchants, authors. soldiers
and bankers What facts can be known
altar most searching analysis tina. writ
ing-master, with an eye to the utility Of his
art, would not detect In . twinklinga It
might be said that A. 4. nervous and excita-
BILE; b careless and Indifferent; c. pains
taking and vigiLant But are these eonjsct-
ures likely to be borne out by factsf
In dsciphering female handwriting q
chiromancsr, or Q Lovelace, Is apt TO say
with the caustic wit Of Farquhar: II have
your letter, madame, and all that under
stand BY IL q that your hand Ia as great q
riddle AZ your face; and tits as difficult to
find out your ssnss In your characters rs TO
know your boauty I'm your mask