Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1895-02-13
A FALSE NOTION.
DsIas hooking ons sque-ely in II,

Dsas Looking ono Squz-eIy In the Fas~
Indicate Anything.
There are few subjects which. q
greater amount Of nonsensical rubbish
has been written than upon the idea
that honesty and f-ankness look one
squarely in the face. and the dropping
of the eyes or the shifting of the glance
Indicates sentiments quite the reverse
of these.
As a matter of fact, brazen iinpu-
dence or the lack of common sense and
delicacy is quite as likely to meet ones
gaze squarely as honest sincerity The
careful observer of the peculiarities Of
mankind can but admit that such E.
test is by no means a satisfactory one
The perfectly honorable, frank, ingen-
nous person, one with only credttable
sentiments in his soul, is much more
likely to be little tirnid and shy and
20 feel slightly abashed in the presence
of strangers or those he may fancy to be
his supeIiors. Under these circuni-
stances there is natural tendency to
modest demeanor and that respectful
attention that real merit almost always
EXPERIENCES when conversation of anv
Importance is in progress.
So much has been said of this
straightforward looking in the face
business that the assured and steady
stare has become one OF the ac-
CURED accomplishments of a large
class of persons, and this, too, a class
that has neither stability nor other
good qualities to recommend it. The
practice stands, in their minds. for con.
Gdence and easy assurance, and is an
excellent means, in their opinion, Of
inspiring respect for their st-aightfor-
'vardness and honesty. ThS pvalue OF
ouch tests rests solely upon the natura1>
Less of the individual to whom they
are applied.
Another whim that has been expioio-
I'd not little is the so-called test o,
persons guilty of crimes and INSIDE
meanors of various sorts. Some pre-,
ternaturally wise individual once mada
the assertion that when a suspected
person was cross-questioned too sharp
~ and desired to appear extremely in
different. he cultivated habit OF
yawning: and that, as natural conse
luence, yawning under crOSs-exan1.
ination was an indication of en-
barrassment aud guilt As a
matter of fact, there are many
temperaments so susceptible that no
tests of this sort are of any value what
ever. Indeed, the Timid and innocent
are the ones to be entirely upset by any
unusual circumstance, while the clear
headed criminal will stand almost all
ordeals without the hutter of nerve
1t is one oi the remarkable facts of
Legal history, and one that seems to
have attracted no special attention,
that tricks and traps set to catch the
uESusTecting have resulted in securing
a C>rtaiD amount of evidence, but by
no means in fixing the guilt where it
belonged. Because a man looks one
squarely in the face; because he bears
the most critical and scathing cross
examining without hinching: because
the medical expert ~Nn detect no I'M
DUO beating of the heart under
excitement; because he has the nerva
TO walk steadily into the death cham
Der and put his hands on the face of
the dead and can turn away without
apparent agitation; because he can face
all manner of tests and walk over ali
sorts of traps without falling into them,
is not the slightest sign that he is inno-
cent. Indeed, if it proves anything at
all it proves him to be an adept in con-
cealment and criminal of the worst
class at heart, if not in fact.
The innocent man might quail before
any of these situations and take on ali
of the symptoms of guilt while the
sdrOit villain could stand smiling and
calm, cOngratulating himself the while
on his superior nerve, and getting
points for future emergencies OF the
same sort.
There have been many foolish things
in the history of this world, but moth
ing more silly, unjust and cruel than
the idea that because Z, man cannot
stare one almost out of countenance
there must of necessity be something
wrong in his moral nature.-N. I.
Ledger.