Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-05-20
LxxI. THIN HEART LINE.

Few things are o entertaining OF
instructive han to apply what you
know of palmistry to the reading Of the
character of people whom you see in
the trolley cars. For the most part you
are, of course, unable to verify your
readings. and you often are left to
wonder whether or not the tales which
the hands tell tally with the actual
facts. Sometimes, however, circum-
stances so shape themselves that you
are afforded an opportunity to assure
yourself that your reading was right.
An instance of this kind occurred
recently. and, although. perhaps, trivial
in itself, it will serve to illustrate the
point in question, and at the same time
throw light, upon the character of the
thin Heart line, which is the subject
of this section, and thus fix it better in
III M
An old woman, poorly dressed. had
asked the conductor to stop the car for
her at a certain street, which she
named. The car was crowded and the
strap-hanger fraternity was well repre-
scented.
Overwhelmed with work, the con-
ductor undoubtedly forgot the request
OF the woman, n passed her street
by many a block before she CHANGED to
ask him whether the car was nearing
1t. The man appeared to be sorry for
his oversight n apologized most
humbly. He stopped the car and care
fully explained to the woman what re-
turn car to take to get back to her
destination.
The poor woman looked dazed. An
other nickel evidently meant much to
her, and the tears came to her eyes.
Two men stood near enough to hear
the entire conversation; and. while one
of them expressed sorrow for the
woman and asked her IL he could be of
service to her, the other laughed at the
episode and apparently enjoyed 1t as a
huge joke.
Both men were hanging ON to stra no
and their palms were plainly exposed
to view. The one who had svnno.
thised with the women had q big,
deep. clear, well colored Heart line,
while the scoffer had a small. tbin
Heart line, wherein there was no color
at all.
The incident was not very mon,ar-
tous perhaps, and many readers NAV
resent its having been set forth here
at such great length. But / hope they
VIII not take offense II L assure them
that to me the occurrence was fraught
with as much importance as if some
thing far greater than the loss of a
nickel by an old lady had been at
stake. 1t matters little what is at
stake. The moral aspect is identical
whether a cigar OF a sceptre is the
object involved. The man who can
laugh at an old woman's plight lacks
sympathy. He will laugh at anything
that is to the hurt Of anyone except
himself or those dear to him. And
hence the incident served to prove the
value of palmistry as a ~decipherer of
character.
The thin Heart line also indicates
c~owardice, selfishness and a narrow
mind. And. as If fortune had designed
to be especially indulgent to me thai
day, it so happened that our unsym-
PdbiiCti-s lhln LICdTI llneQ DfOLneT
passed his street too without noting
1T. And. when he finally die discover
that he was three blocks beyond where
he a intended to alight-my, such
language! A pirate would have
blushed like a coy maiden to hear
himself SO outdone. n here is where
the cowardice of the fellow showed IT.
self. For when rebuked by a stout,
~good-natured looking little woman the
c~oruscating epithets took on a still
more lurid hue, but stopped imme-
diately when the man with the deep,
clear Heart line bade the ruff1an be-
have himself And the wonderful part
of it was that the one who issued the
command was considerably slighter
and smaller than the one who obeyed
II. II
So here. you see. the thin Heart line
at one stroke, SO to speak, disclosed
the true character of its owner-laoas
Of sympathy, selfishnes and cowsrdica.