The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1890-12-18
"A STUDY IN MEMS BACKS
CHARACTER IS SHOWN THERE AS
WELL AS IN THE FACE.

A Dissertation on the Various Kinds of
Backs That One Is Accustomed to See.
Descriptions of the Thoughtful Back.
the Purse Proud Back and Others
The back of an individuals an easy
study-the whole of him, his figure and
walk, his shoulders nodded by the habits
of his life, the carriage of the head, the
wearing of the clothing. Face to face
we see the man as he desires to be seen;
but behind his back we take him by sur
prise, and catch sight of his character.
Follow the thoughtful man as he wan
ders through the streets, seeing nothing.
While he walks his head and shoulders
bend: one knows that his eyes seek the
ground Just as one sees his feet hnger
IN it. In this manner it must have been
that Macaulay walked in his famous
night wanderings, when he traversed
| the London streets and saw nothing,
contrast to the night walks Of Charles
Dickens, who trod the same streets and
saw everything, with head Characters
tically held back and slightly to one side,
an energetic observer rather than deep
thinker.
Very different from what we may call
the refined and intellectual back is the
back of the broad and vulgar figure who
struts past us rs if he owned the street
His glory is not in his mind or heart,
but in his pockets. He has a habit OF
sticking up for his rights. Even his
collar sticks up, and his hair, to CORE
spond with his inner self, is bristling.
He thinks he can buy anything, from
picture, of which he knows nothing, to
an elector, who knows nothing of him.
| The purse proud man will never hand
money out of that pocket for charity,
unless he is pretty sure that his name is
in printed list of subscribers.
THE RoGUE's BACK.
Not SO the wealthy man who has
heart above gold. Look at him, a back
view, as he stands at a public meeting
called at some time of calamity or need.
He is sure to be there. Ii the hall is
overcrowded you can see him standing,
never complaining of the lack of seats;
he is there for the comfort of others; he
forgets his own. He is large hearted
man, and everything about him is large
The big hands are only waiting behind
him to give freely, the broad back can
bear goodly share of others burdens
AS for the back of the rogue, it is Of
infinite variety. If there were only one
sort we might all make what soldiers
would call reconnaissance to the rear
and detect and outwit him. There is
the sharp dealer of the business world,
who is remarkably spruce at the back,
and the adventurer of society, who can
bow like the first gentleman in Europe,
and ten thousand more varieties, from
the welcher on the turf up to the gentle
man who ought to be a baronet, and
who has lived for the last thirty years
on that statement and on charitably col
Letting for the savages of Borrioboola.
He could straighten his body if he liked,
but his mind is fixed in curves of Gun
ming. He and his principles are as
crooked as wriggling cells He can press
others to his will, too, AS he presses his
cane to curve like himself.
His spare form is not the thin, bent
back of the student. The back Of a
bookworm is another kind of bend-a
curve to be respected. Nor is 1t the
stoop of old age. Tho back is an index
of age as well as of character. The
small child stands "a square, upright
atom of humanity. The man grows
straight to his full height; then his
shoulders broaden; then his shoulders
come forward, and his head goes down