The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-27
HANDS OF MEMBERS.
a Fighting Lot, says n CheirOIO-
gist.
From the New York Sun.

gIst.
From the New York Sun.
The New Yorker who had been down to
Washington 10 take in the grand congress
sional opening in that town in the hrst
Monday in December was making a few
remarks to a small group in the Hoffman
house.
4 am not" said he. much Of a cheIrOl-
ogsst, but
And what's eheirologist?" inquired
a Wall street man whose poker record
Is such that he. ought to know all about
hands
You ought to know" smiled the talker.
but as you don't seem 10. / will say for
your benefit that a cheirolOgist is one who
lnteTprets character and instincts OF men
by the hsbitual action of the hands and
the natural positions into which they I'M
consciously place themselves when IN a
state OF repOse."
Thanks; go on with your rat killing"
well, as 1 was saying, I'm not much or
cheirologtst, but when / was down there
at Washington watching the able repre-
sentatives from all over this broad land
OF freedom going through the ordeal OF
the oath Of allegiance, or whatever they
call IL, i noticed their hands as they held
mem up 10 be sworn IN. They came up IN
attachments before the speaker, and he
administered the oath to each lot IN
bunch. What first attracted me was the
open-handed way those statements had.
Out of group of a dozen in the first
batch l ddn see one that now recall,
who didn't have his fingers spread wide
out, Indicating hberality and an indica-
ton to let go. As that batch was from Al
ALBANIA and Arkansas, the roll being call
ed alphabetically, they belonged to the
party which hadn't much 70 give up, and
could afford to be liberal. AS the roll
went on noted thumbs, always a strong
feature and / am free to confess that the
Eifty3fourth congress shows by its
thumbs that II has firmness In plenty. 1t
was a rare thing TO see a thumb that
wasn't sticking out as sassy as a snake
head, and In the entire lot OF members l
only saw one that was turned clear in on
the palm, indicating weakness and a dis
position to be led around by the nose.
One man held his hand so that the thumb
and little nnger touched, showing that his
disposition 10 be a schemer was met by
a weakness In carrying out his schemes.
Now and then all the fingers of hand
showed an inclination to fail into the
palm of the hand. which l took to mean
that the owners of such hands were wait
ing to see which way the cat jumped be-
there were hands with the fingers tightly
held together, a sure sign that the pos
SCISSORS were secretive men, who would go
about with the great affairs of state on
their shoulders, and the secrets of coun-
ellis and caucuses in their bOsoms, yet
they would give no sign, and II they hap
pened to forget themselves and in burst
of confidence say something to a newspa-
per correspondent that might prove un-
wisely or untimely spoken, and looked
language, would hasten to deny the inter-
view and denounce the correspondent.
The assertiveness of some of those out
spread fingers was more than that; IL was
aggressiveness, and / think the Fifty
fourth congress is going TO show a good
deal of nerve In some of the things IL does.
Possibly some of those new members were
thinking of Great Britain and Venezuela
when they were swearing to be true TO
their country, but il showed only in their
hands, not in their faces because the
hand tells a lot more than the face does.
A half dozen hands were closed almost to
fist size, but that is no sign of strength.
1t is weakness, rather, for the strong hand
doesn't relax. AS a rule the held-up hands
were of the spetulate or active variety,
the fingers being square at the end and
stubby rather than long and slender. Now
and then such a hand appeared, and the
owner nearly always showed in his face
and bearing that the hand fitted the char
acter and IL he had his way he would
prefer to sit at his desk reading or writing
rather than be ever ready to jump up and
have a scrap with whatever opponent
might be on the floor.
hands which indicate the scholar or the
recluse, and possibly one or two conc
ception, however, and general show
down of the hands of the Fifty-fourth
congress would indicate that IL was ready
for any kind o. hsht that might De pre- IRE
thumbs, which. while not only agrees
sively sassy in their protuberance, indi-
Gated by the long first phalanx that their
owners when once they had reached po-
sltion were going to stick right there till
the end came. Some of the palms of the
hands, as well as / could see from my
position in the gallery, were soft and
rosy, with well-developed thickness I'M
der the thumb, showing conclusively that
| If there were Juliets in the balcony those
| congressman on the floor would hustle
| around pretty lively for enough rope to
make a seryiceable ladder Of"
How about T. Bracket Reed?" in
| quired the Wall street man.
The cheirologist laughed
1T was funny to see him when he was
| sworn in" he said. THE hands he held up
was absolutely expressionless. 1t didn't
mean anything, but the one he didn't
hold--well, that was kind of behind him.
and I'm shot II I know whether he had
1t on a gun in his hip pocket or hold of a
| club"