Year: 1870

| Many people read character by the shape of
| the skull almost everybody ntuitivey and in
stinctivcly reads it in the countenance; some
effect to be able to discover it in the hand
writing of persons whom they have never seen
while few are of opinion that it may be ascer-
tanned by the manner in which man shakes
hands. OF all these modes of studying charac-
ter, that Of phySiognOmy is the most to be de-
| pended upon. Nevertheless an aid to, and
not a substitute for physiOgnOmy-ther is
much to be said for hand shaking and as a
means of deciding whether he or she who offers
or accepts this act of friendly courtesy is cold
or warm-hearted indifferent or cordial, sincere
or hypOcritcal, or whether he or she is really
glad to interchange courtesles with you, or only
pretcnds to be SO.


| How did people ever get in the habit of
shaking hands? The answeris not far to seek.
In early aud barbarouS times when every saw
age or semi-sGvage was his own lawgiver, Judge,
soldier and policeman, and had to watch over
his own safety, in default of all other protec-
t on, two friends or acquaintances, or to stran-
gers desiring to be friends or acQuaintanccs,
when they chanced to meet. offered each to
the other the right hand-the hand alike of
offence and defence, the hand that wields the
sword, the dagger, the club, the tOmahawk, or
other weapon of war. Each did this to show
that the hand was empty, and that war nor
treachery was intended. y man cannot well
stab another while he is engaged in the act of
shaking hands with him. unless he be a dOub-
le dyed traitor and william, and strives to aim a
cOwardly blow with the left while giving the
right and pretending to be on good terms with
his victim. The custom of hand shaking pre-
walls more or less among all civilized nations,
and is the tacit avowal OF friendship aud good
will, u>t as the kiss is of warmer passion.


Ladies, as every one must have remarked
, seldom or never shake hands with the cOrdiali
ty of gentlemen, unless it be with each other
The reason Is obvious. 1t is for them to re-
ccive homage, not to give it. They cannot be
expected to show to persons Of the other sex
warmth OF greeting which might be mi>inter
f preted, unless such persons ale very closely re
lated to them by family or affection; in which
eases hand shaking Is not needed, and the lips
do more greeable duty.


Every man shakes hands according to his ma
ture, whether it be timid or aggressive, prout
!, or humble, courteous or churlish vulgar or re
1 fined, sincere or hypOcrltIcal, enthusiastic O
indifferent. The incest TehnementS and idio
syncra,les OF character may not perhaps be dis
= cOverable in this fashion, but the more saien
points Of temperament and individuality ma


doubtless be made clear, to the understanding


of most people by a better study of what sha


call the physiology of hand shaking.


Some people are too . rObustious' to be al
[
r. with the grasp of vice, and as if they had


with malice prepenSe, resolved to squeeze al


the delicate little bones of your knucklcs int


pulp or mince meat. And while the tears u
u agony come into your eyes, and run down you


cheeks, they smile at you benignantly like gel


tie giants, unconscious of their strength and {
: the tyranny with which they exercise it. Man
- OF them are truly good fellows, and mean AL tn


ordlality of which their awful squeeze Is tn


cmanlfestatiOn. They would exert all tn
'e- strength that goes to waste in such hand-shal
We ing IN resculng you from danger if you were
as II, or IN doing battle against your enemies
IN you were assalled by superior numbers Y,


when such seemingly cordial good fellows man
~. fest the same cOrdlality towards people who
ID they meet for the first time yesterday, and t.
'er wards those with whom they NAV have beo
ICE intimate for halt or quarter of century,


IS Impossible to avoid a suspicion that they a
from habit, rather than from the ebulliton


heart But OF all the men to he avoided he wi


squeeZes your hand III this excruciating taShiC
\ on false pTetence is the worst. He dislocat
sA your joints to convince you that he loves vC


very dearly, and as soon as you are out of sig


fOrgets you, or thinks you are no gre
j. shakes" after all, or worse still, abuses you b
hind your back to the next acquaintance who
A he meets Him, in his turn, he serves in Il
eIy same manner, and gradually establishes f
,e himself the character, which he well deserve
." of being a snob and hulDbug of a particula
Id ly offensive type.


ms Another, and even more odious kind of han
shaker, is he who offers you his hand, but W
Oi not permit you to get fair hold OF it one
: whom it has been sung:


. with finger tip he cOndescends


To touch the fingers of his friends,


As II he feared their palms might brand
- Some moral stigma his hand.


= TO be treated with the cool contempt or sumo


cilious scOrn which such mode of salutati
implies is worse than not TO be sauted at a


Better foeman, with whom you feel on teri


of equality, than an acquantance-he cam


be called a fricnd-who looks down upon y


as if he were a superior being, and will not a


nit your social equality without drawba
and discount. 1t sometimes happens, ho


ever, that this result is due to the difidence
Iy the shakee rather than to the pride OF the 81
- kcr. If timid man will not hold his hand O
- far enough to enable another to grasp it fair


it is his own fault, and betrays a weakness