The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1892-01-23
HANDSHAKING AS AN ART.
Some of the Fashionable Modes Of Uniting
Hands.

Hands.
There ia nothing which so harrows the
sensitive soul of my friend the Professor
''profe, sor of music, etiquette and dane.
ipg"-says a writer in the New York
Herald. as the way we ordinary Americ ins
shake hands. He says it is rude and boor-
ish and collateral evidence OF man s ascent
froln the lower animals In our case he
thinks he ascent has not reached much
above the second rung OF the ladder, nor
shall we ever get any higher until We learn
low 10 use our hands.
| shall not dispute such an eminent au-
thori,y, for he tells me he has studied the
subject in the royal courts of Europe.
where he has often been an honored guest,
AID therefore knows whereof he atfirms
On the contrary, in the meek and lowly
spirit In which we learn OF our defects
from the critical stranger within our
gates, transcriba the Professors obser.
vations fer the ben. fit Of our untaught
countrymen.
In the first place, the professor says we
have no style about our hand shaking, but
do it in dull, unthinking way, as if it
were any ordinary proceeding. whereai he
says it should be governed by strict rules
OF procedure, and pe made sort of poem
of action, so to speak.
All the methods of handshake practiced
10y the denizeEs Of the metropolis this care
iui observer has class fed and named after
their proper genus, and the most of them,
candor obliges himto saJ, are very bad.
nose which escape mis- condemnation are
he habits employed by few travelled
persons, familiar, very likely, with the
way Wales himself does those. and the
,upils Of the Professor himself Which
is not very strange.
The best of all nandshakes is known a.
1.-The latest English, and is done 10y rul.
after this fashion:
In advancing to shake hands the body
should be held as ST II as possible, but III
clined forward, the walking being done
chiefly by the hip, and must be held out at
lie ankle joints. The arm sides in such a
way as to form triangle with the body,
the hands being held limp and habby like
a pair Of dead fish. In this way stride
forward in a somewhat threatening man
ner and stare hard at the other man. At
the distance of three feet stop suddenly
grab the other mans hand with a jerk
raise it to the level of the scarf. pin and
Sank il downward twice At the same
time grunt-not to any purpose, but
just grunt. After that retire ard stare.
The second commendahIe method is
calt the Central Park, and is thing
IF beauty much affected by the adora bIe
Dung gentlemen who wear bag overco at,
and irt quent the stage doors of theaters
X is a modification Of the latest English,
ccompanied by slight kicking Of tbt
left heel and sharp downward jerking ot
the mead The jerk brings up pectora
How er yerP" which is greeting enough
for any man.
They DO these things even better in
France" as old Sterne says. The true
French method. also much beprased Q:
arms he'd out stiifly, something like a
prize. fighter guard. Then in ciammy
sort of way, each man seizes the otber',
the eyes and the elbows slightly crooked
two tips are given. and ths thing is done
| Aside from these II tthods all that the
professor sees is sheer barbarism, as 4,
was good enough to point out the other
night ~ certain popular assemolage
La his Judgment the handshake was Sc
characteristic of the man that he coulc
tell FROM seeing it from just what prov
/ itilCe III iUls IPUlkuttu IdHl lLt
shaker or his ancestry.
! The old New Yorker shake as he pro
ceeded to show consisted in languidly ex
! tending passive hani TO be shaken ut tht
Others pleasure, the Ctfcrlng being mad,
as a conCe.slo 10 an unreasonable haul
and without apparent faith or interest IL
its efficacy. The hand is not In any cas-
lifted abov, the pocket, but Is merely de
| llvered ever as Il loan Of something TO
which the owner has no use. This i
criticised as not being the best form, bu
much bett.i than other methods in yogu
among the careless.
The Boston method, according to tn,
same authority, j. sticking out of a hant
rs straight and fat as board, the thum
'eing held stitily upward like the hamme
of gun. This being slid along by thu
the side of another hand as stiff an,
wooden, taere ensues three or four me
chanical up and down movements hinge,
ut the eltow. The hands are then drop
ped like piece of ice.
The southerner takes your hand in hi
in confidential sort of way. exerts gen
tie PRESSURE, manipulates his whole arr
with show of enthusiasm, and ends wit
Il final lltle shake from side 10 side as a
earnest Of his good will and appr, b ltion
But If man grabs you hard by you
hand until your fingers ache. and oscilate
your arm up and down with sundry jerk
trem the shoulder joint, know him as
woolIy westerner and hencetorth avoid him
Ii will save you many pang.
So firmly fixed are these local charat
teristics that the Professor says they de
scsnd from generation To generation, an
man whose father and grandfather wer
b, rn in New York. will greet YOU at;e
the New England method il his forefather
were Yankees.