The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-03-23
All Right, Sherlock.
EU ening Chat
Translating Facial Expressions.
BY RUTH CAMERON.

Did you ever notice how interesting
| it is to watch the expression on peo-
! pies faces after they have greeted
some passing friend or acquaintance
| 1t seems as if the passerby cast the
shadow of his personality on his
friends face and if you look quickly
enough, in that tiny moment after
the friend has passed out of sight and
before the expression has died away,
you can see the effect that personality
has.
For instance, as I sit in the trolley
car L see the woman opposite bow to
someone who passes down the aisle
out of sight. The woman opposite me
does not know that anyone is watch
ing her and so she is utterly unself-
conscious and the expression that lin
gers on her face after the friend has
passed tells me, to some extent, what
she thinks of the friend.
Perhaps the smile with which she
greeted her fingers on. 1t is a pleas
ant smile, almost tender, and thus 1
know that the friend who passed by
was someone who could inspire such
genuine liking. r,ts4o e IN
Sometimes the smiles does not lin
ger an instant It is mere con-
traction of the mouth and does not
touch the eyes (the sea of real smiles.)
1t snaps on and off as if it were work
ed by switch and it's owner were &c
onomical of smile electricity Then
one knows that one of two things is
true. Either the mountaineering is
SO formal as to require only that kind
of an acknowledgements or the per-
son to whom it is given is not really
liked.
Sometimes the smile of greeting
passes into a sort of self-congratula-
tory smile. Now and then 1 surprise
this kind of a smile on a mans face
after he has greeted woman and I
suspect that he is reflecting on how
deeply she admires him. Or perhaps
the pat-oneself- on-the-ba smile is
on a woman's face after she has greet
ed some other woman. Then it prob
ably means pleasure at recognition
from some social superior.
Expression is the index of the soul.
Controlled expression may lie but not
the unself-conscious expression. That
is why 1 like to watch for such
glimpses and try to understand and
translate them.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
Question-When a couple are going
to be married who should buy the
household furniture, the man or the
woman?
Reply.-I believe the formal rule is
that the woman buys the linen, the
fact the average young couple gather
their furniture from the four corners
of their world. The girls family often
gives her the bedroom furniture she
has had at home and the groom's
family contribute what they can spare.
Then of course there are the wedding
presents. AS a girl once told me with
surprising frankneSs, Il didn't care
about having all these people but you
know we need the wedding presents
to help furnish, .-.,r-.
Question.-M children bring home !
their books to study in the fourth and |
fifth grades. What do you think of it /
We never did it when 1 was a child. |
Reply.-Nor in my childhood either. |
I think it is all nonsense. Five hours |
a day is enough for children of that |
age to be using their brains. They |
should be sleeping, eating and play |
ing out of doors the rest of the time |