The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-05-11
Handshake
Cordial And
Its Variants
You Can Gauge a Persons
Character By Single
Clasp Of the Digits.

Now that kissing has gone out OF
fashion, perhaps women Will In uHle
acquire the gentle art of shaking
hands From time immemorial they
have punctiliously kissed one another
friends and enemies allke-"hlie
philosophers have scoHed ana men
Generally have looked on in mute
and all without a
thought of anything more than n
merest social courtesy. Doupuess
most women are possessed With the
vague dee that a handshake means
rather less, says The Memphis Com
mercial Appeal.
However. this may be, the woman
who can bestow a hearty, coroial
handshake is almost as much OF a
rarity as the ~proverbial white crow.
When you do by chance encounter
her, you will find about her a breezl-
ness, a straight-from-the-shoUlcer
ness that plainly indicates that she
has lived much among men-and
good, honest, square dealing men at
hat. Also should you be fortunate
enough to gain her confidence, you
| will find that her views are broad, her
| criticisms frank but just, her friend
ships sincere and her heart generous.
Some women-some men, too for
the matter OF that-are too narrow,
too trivial to be capable Of the warm
sympathetic clasp Of the hand that is
the involuntary expression or gooo
| fellowship and kindly feeling. They
may be glad enough to see you, but
even while they are extending their
| fingers for the customary salute their
eyes are furtively scanning your fea-
lures and your attire and they forget
| everything else in the discovery that
your hat is unbecoming, or that your
gown is one Of last seasons
over.
A woman Of this type is probably
quite unconscious Of the trend Of her
thoughts, but the fact main that
the HAND h finally gives you is limp
and l~ifeless. Whatever magnetism it
may have contained is FILTERED away
before it reaches you.
Meaning In a HandShake.
Whether a person realizes it or not
there is a lot of meaning in a hand
shake. You can gauge a mans char
acter-or a woman's either-more
accurately in a single brief meeting
of the hands than in a month Of
ordinary observation of features an6
actions. 1t is possible to school the
features into i~mmobility, to guard
even the eyes-'windows of the soul
though they are-so that they will
UclIdy uO1i1lllS OIL the ina liz
behind them. But the contact of thu
hand reveals everything. 1t is The
instantaneous commingling of cleo
trio currents which puts you ON tn,
wire In a flash of intuition you Sc,
the real man or woman with whom
you are dealing.
There are handshakes and hand
shakes. There is the quick, nervou
handshake, which means tina you hat
better say quickly what you must sa,
at all-and the less Of it the better
There is the ELUSIVE ha~ndshake
which indicates hat there is an ak {,
be ground and that you arc needed t
serve as ~grtndstones. There is tn
indifferent handshake, which we al
know the ~insinuatfng handshak
which we should all be a wary Of
the caressing handshake, which i
sometimes agreeable and sometime
the reverse, and the limp handshake
the giver of which will seldom prov
a friend in adversely, sometimes tn
limp handshake only indicates tim
+ idity. viii
: There is the timid handshak
which is generally that of the inno
cent and combining. And there !
the firm, kindly and hand
l snake which heartens YOU IN whe
you are downcast and sends Won a
! u a with your head up and
: warm glow IN your heart. And III
man or Woman with a handshake Ik
r th1s is the man or woman that wi
= make a true friend. W.