Evening journal., 1896-09-01
HOW DO YOU SHAKE ?
CHARACTER AS rrptcHTED BY TIE
MANNER OF GRAsPiNc HANDS. &
The French waysIs overwheiming- The
English Tendency to Dignity With We
neering There Is No Generally Observed
style OF Shaking Hands In This Country.

neering There IL No Generally observed
style OF Shaking Hands In This Country.
Individual characteristics show thern-
Eelyes in the shape of the hcad, the curve of
the nose the style OF walking and III othef |
less noticeable Ways and lcrhaps the littlo |
matter of hhndshaking mny bo considered |
the trademark Of gentility, n sort Of door |
card as IL were, TO let you know what |
manner of man lives within. 4- s.ii |
There arc people who mako their living |
by reading the contour of the hend, feeling |
the bumps and then diving headlonR into |
an exhaustive dissertation on the subjects |
past and future, with a full and minute |
description Of all his attributes
Then there arc nonlads and East Indi-
ans who read your palm and deduee or
nate accounts Of your antecedents and
| your postersty No one ever believes
| them. But possibly no man has been bold
| enough 70 try to discern character by the
shake Of the hand. 1t would be rather
| difficult job Besides disclosing certain
traits of personality handshaking figures
considerably in national Characteristics.
| is custom, just as sea bathing IS, or
talking or eating, and, after ceEturics Of
| practice, Inolds itself into habit
Tho volublc, cffervescent French shake
| hands as they talk and do everything else.
They come at you with V shaped wedge,
overwhelming you with whole oceans OF
words and shake hnndsas they would work
a pump handle.
Unfortunately, perhaps, no foreigner
can aspire TO tho dignity Of thb president
OF the United States But what n president
genuine French handshakcr would nakei
When it comes 10 public receptions and Il
few hundred pnlins moro or less TO grasp
ideal chief executive for these democratic
states Of ours
With tho English It is quite different
The tendency to dignity and solemnizo ev-'
erything they do finds Amplo scope for ex-
preston In the daily incident of handshak-
ing They do nothing enthusiastically nor
with unseemly hnste They veneer over
their smallest act with a magnihcent Sc
dateness and respectability which aro ap-
palhng to an uneven tempered American
and mean nothing short OF total demoli-
tion Of equilibrium for an excitable Gaul.
And thus 1t comes about thst when you
shake hands with an Englishman or an
English woman You have an iusinuatipg
suspicion thnt you are on the mourners'
bench and that some droadful old woman
with green gl0sses and poke bonnet is
dolorously preparing you for the world. TO
tDlllt anu - EAfAANk OA ~ f'AA AAAH 'htAf~' "
speed you on your journey. That IS the
way It feels TO healthy man. The Eng
lish handshake isn't exactly corpselike,
but 1t gives you the shiyers until you are
used TO It And Il Is patronizing, too,
something dreadfully insVlar about It that
inpresses you with your inferiority.
Our English cousins have allowed the
matter OF fact business of shying :, Howdy'
with the hunds to degenerate into sort OF
dissipation They indulge themselves IN
It, ns they indulge In b. and s. when
they have headachc. 1t has even gone SC
, far as to develop at times into yeritabl'
orgy. .
In their refined, exclusive way they tax
an infinite, almost childish, delight II
calmly folding their hand hround your
\ and raising II high in the air to stay ther
until you both get tired The Englisl
I shake hands when they got UP, shake hand
' at the breakfast table, when they leave tn
, house, at luncheon, at dinner, when tho.
, 20 to bed and believe IL Is not improba
. bio that they indulge themselves in thei
a sleep.
The delicious and refreshing CONTRAST K
I both the French and English styles Is oui
4 own. We arc generally too busy-that Is
{ our men are--to waste much time In en-
bellishing our handshakes or prolongine
them beyond tho period of deceut ciyility
Among men, indeed, the social habi
socms to have fallen into disnse for som'
= occult reason. 1t Is hard to say whether !
: is considered cffeminntc and silly or mere
4 lya waste OF valuable time, which SO oftei
] is money with MS Perhaps both hgur
. among the causes for tho decline OF hand
shaking At any rate, you VIII find that
I geuesally spolking, only ministers of tn
< gospel women, clubmen and cads, with
n smail sprinking of real gentlemen VIII
have money enough TO justify little indul
gences, Ilonopolizo tho liundshalSing busl
ness in America. OF course this statenen
Is qualified, because thero arc times whe
n every man Is called on to undergo thi
h tiresoine imposition Of society.
4 But among the handshaking classes 9
!. America there is as wide difference a
i can tven be conceived
Il When tho typical American-tho bus
: ness mnn, that isis Obliged TO shak
hands, he gcts over It as quickly as poss
bic He suffers it cs a matter Of Reccssit
and doesn't sdorn it with any stucco wor
A. or bas relief
Ia There is the eccentric man, who has
surprise for you and makes you very ner,
ous, because you never know what IS con
: ing. Citizen George Francis Train Is fai
= example OF the bizarre bandshaker. Whe
. you arc introduced to him, you put fort
your dlgits very modcstly and are knocke
y into heap nguratively when the distir
- guishod eccentric smiles, draws back an
- shakes his own hands, looking all Il
y while as though he enjoyed It innnitel
more than though he had your hand IN hi
ID And perhaps there IS mcthodin his ma,
as ness ASK your family physician what J
at thinks Of the hygicnic side Of the question
g. and II he Is @ crank ON the subject he ma
.els you neither TO shake hands with n'
t, kiss even your closest relative. Perhal
Ve Citizen Train is right after all.
q, Briefly, thero Is Uriah Hccp, who Civ
el YOU faint, seasick feeling about the ston
: ach when you take his hand. 1t is wet
W clammy Is the conventional word--ar
n sticky and cold and altogether nasty al
e rcvolting You leirn TO know Mr. Hee
ly and you would rather walk around q
block than meet him face u face and ha'
s. TO undergo the torture Of contact with h
in nabby, awfu. hands Toledo Blade.