Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-06-22
ABOUT TIE LEFT HAND.
PEOPLE RIGHT HANDED FROM EoU-
CATION AND INHERITANCE.

Thing which Every One Docs with His
Left Hand 1t Is More Accurate in Its
Movements Than the Rtgss-Dimealties
In Training Children.
Until OF late years the most Of the world
has believed that IL was = serious error to
Allow a child 10 use its left hand as much as
its right one It was Charles Reade who once
said men were right handed By habit, esiucs-
ton. and perhaps by Inheritance Il is no
more natural 10 be right landed than left
handed. except that having two hands we get
In the habit OF using one II them more than
the other Indeed, every mother viii tell
you how She fought against W Tile or Johnny
or Jennie t-4ng left handei, not that 10 have
Q left handed son or daughter Is a positive
disgrace but all mechanical appliances and
everything Intended for the Use Of humanity
is BY common consent male right handei
NEARER THE BEING.
Take child when il Is first able TO sit
alone and it Is neither right nor left banded
Offer it an object and the chances are ten 20
one it will reach for it with the left hand.
Every one has noticed this. How it worries
tie mother, and how she struggles for months,
or until the child has got into the habit Of
using the right hand, To prevent it from
being left handed The left hand is the more
sensitive OF the two, 1t is nearer the child, it
is nearer its being, It's life and action. Offer to
shake hands with it and it extends the left.
Not that hand" says the mother, give
the gentleman the other hand And after
being directed two or three times it extends
the other, and the mother apologies by say
ing she does not understand why it wants to
give its left hand. that She Is sure none Of
her people or her husbands are left handed.
Poor, dellded mother And then when the
little thing is put up TO the table it insists
upon taking it's fork in its left hand to eat
Every child does it, with hardly an exception,
as every mother can testify.
II is not natural to use either hand, that Is
to say, both hands are certainly made To use,
but until they have been trained both seem
useless appendages. The child will ram its
fists into It's mouth, its eyes, or into anything
that is within reach. 1t does not know what
its little hands are for, and it has not the
least idea what to do with them They are
20 many white elephants to it.
Go into factory and watch the operators.
How deity they use their fingers how accu-
rate every movement. The variation Of an
eighth Of an inch in a movement might cost
them the price of weeks work, SO accurate
must they be, and yet they continue. their
fingers flying swiftly day after day without
an error They are not using the right hand
alone. The left is doing its part Perhaps
ut this machine or at that table, the office
the left hand performs is more important
than that Of the right, but it is trained as the
right is trained, in the performance of the
Ordinary affairs Of life, and it is true to It's
master.
TIL factory operator was as awkward at
his work the first day he began at it as h
child is in its efforts to handle material
things, with the single exception that TIL OPP
orator knew what his hands were for. and
they had been trained to respond to his will
III the ordinary movements, But how long
did 1t take hitn to become perfect One year
two years, So can you train tho left hand
in the same length of tins to perform any
act accurately which can be done with the
right. 1t is we'll known that persons who
lose the use Of the right hand entirely learn
to write more beautifully with the left than
they ever did with the right. This is ac-
counted for, as stated at the beginning Of this
article by the fact that the left hand or arm
is more sensitive in its nature than the right,
and, therefore, more accurate iii precision.
Every person has certain things which they
do with their left hand, and which, from
never having done the same things with the
right, they would be as awkward about were
they to attempt 1t, they are about doing
things with their left hand which they have
trained their right to perform.
Nearly every one holds a garment III the
left hand to put it on Whyf Well they
learned to do it that way because their moth
ers never taught them differently. And in
putting on garment this way-putting the
right arm in first-the left hand performs all
the work 1t holds the garment, draws it on
to the right arm, and then, while the right
arm crooks and the hand comes up and
catches the lapel Of the coat, the awkward
left hand goes round behind you, catches tho
coat, Strengthens it out as it were. and pro-
ceeds to s,arch for the place to insert itself,
and, having found it, goes in and actually
puts the coat on. The left hand has done it
all And now, which hand do you button
With Nine people out of ten use the left,
and those who use the left cannot button
with the hit to save them. They never
learned tn / way In guarding against the
use OF tia ! 70 hJnd that was one thing the
mpthpr tar
Tho IL ding uses his left hand to hold
hi, cigar or Z. sarette. He will tell you the
rcaso.i .,'., 'nS not use his right is because he
us Elt III ~ .s4 ~ VI usiB luc ieit. mt
fin 5e g the lett hand of nearly every smoker
az .llow with nicotine He uses the left
hand, its simpl habit. The right hand is
busy with pen or pencil and the left hand is
trained to perform this duty, and when it has
once been train it always performs the task,
whether the right hand is engaged at some
thing else or not
THE PUGUIsTs' BEST
Pugillsts use their left hand to protect them
selves from the blows of the adversary, and
probably the hardest blows ever struck in
prize ring are the left handed" ones. LANDED
one with his left is almost as much Of a chest
nut in the report of fight as dull thud" is
in hanging report.
Desart, famed for teaching the court chill
dren how to walk, move or sit down, and
whose methods Of stage fainting falling,
walking, etc, arc studied by all emotional
actresses, s1ys the left arm and foot are
stronger than the right
1t is an uudcniable fact that left handed
persons, or rather those who have trained the
left hand Instead of the right from infancy,
ure much better performers on tae piano than
right h:lidal persons One of the greatest
dilliculias to be overcome by piano players
in the rendition Of classical music is the ac-
cura;,, execution of the bass-if it may be so
called ~ sticii u counection-and musicians
give two reasons for it: one, that the left
hand is weak from inactivity, and the other,
that it has lacned or does lack the education
which the right hand has received.-New