The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1901-04-05
MOTIONS OF The HANDS.
How the Railroad Ticket Seller
Reads Character I'm Them.

Reads Character In Them.
A ticket seller at an IL" station
amuses himself by watching the hands
thrust into his little window; not as a
palmist would, studying the shape. the
length Of fingers or the joints and meas
urements. The motions Of the hands in
terest him.
do you see that woman on the plat
form p he asked. "I'll bet she's close
one. How do 1 know? Why, she's been
coming to this station for years. She
never offers more than a dime and puts
out one finger and at the same time tells
me In a positive tone Just one.' She
holds on to the dime in a lingering way,
as If she hated to turn 1t loose. 1 know
she gives 1t parting squeeze. And she
snatches the nickel slide out as If she
was afraid some one else would try to
get it.
1.-THE impatient man Is standing just
behind her. I'd hate to live with him.
He filings his money at me as If it burn
ed his fingers, reaches out for his ticket
and claws at the window ledge If delay
a moment. Then he snatches it up and
runs through the turnstile. No, 1t is not
because he Is In a hurry. He always
does the same way II there isn't train
In hearing distance.
"Then there's the generous man. He
throws down some money, doesn't wait
to count his change and Is off. Some
times he forgets the change and leaves
it Once he gave me a dollar, got his
ticket and rushed to the train. I saved
the 95 cents for him, and next time /
saw him gave it to him. But he push
ed it back good naturally and said: oh,
never mind! Buy the baby something
with 1t and give her my compliments;
she's got an honest daddy
'"The timid woman puts down her
change In hesitating fashion.
"And the careless woman-she waits
until she gets to the window to hunt
her change. Then she dives down In her
pocketbook and fumbles about, pulls out
samples and truck and sometimes drops
her nickel after she succeeds in finding
It and has to look all over the floor for 1t,
while the people behind fume and fret.
There's generally something the matter
with her gloves.
'The cautious woman gives everybody
the jimjams. She takes out her money de-
liberately and insists on handing it in to
me with precision, which she accomplish
es by gingerly putting her thumb and
fore6nger through the little hole In my
window. When give her the change. she
counts 1t carefully. sometimes twice over,
to be sure there Ii no mistake. and she
never seems aware that she is blocking
the way. She Is never in hurry, and if a
train or two go by while she Is getting
this matter straight that doesn't worry
her. Her maxim is one thing at time,
and she prides herself on not making mis-
takes.
"Another character IN our business Is
the man who has a good sized bill. He
looms up just as a train Is approaching,
and the line behind gets as wildly excited
as II that was the only one for an hour.
1t takes some time to give out the change
and for him to count It, but he manages
to catch the train every time. People be-
hind him don't That's where the trou-
BILE comes in.
"Then there II the transfer iend who
asks a hundred questions about how to
get to a certain place, and then goes over
the same conversation with the gateman.
What has that to do with hands? Moth
ing. except that I've been at this stand
many years, and while don't know the
face of a single one Of these individuals
can tell them BY their hands. New
York Press