HOW TO TELL CHARACTER FROM PERSONAL APPEARANCE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 130, 23 May 1908, Page 3

HOW TO TELL CHARACTER FROM PERSONAL APPEARANCE

There call he little doubt that close observation of jioople, and ability to mid their character and llu'ir thoughts, is of immense value ill trudi' ami commerce, ('specially for a shop-assistant or .salesman, in persuading people to buy goods, or in detecting would-be swindlers. It is Hiiid that you can tell a inan'-s character from the way he wears his hat. If it is slightly 011 one side, the wearer is good-natured; if it is worn very much 011 one side, he is a swaggerer; if oil the back of his head, lie is had at paying his debts; while if worn straight oil the top, he is probably honest. but very dull, The way a mail or woman walks is often a very good guide to character. Witness the fussy, swaggering little man, paddling along witli short steps, with much arm action; the nervous

man's hurried, jerky stride; the slow slouch of the loafer; the smooth-going and silent step of the scout, and so 011. " I was once accused,'' says Lieuten-ant-Oneral linden-Powell, from whose work on "Scouting for Hoys" this information is taken, "of mistrusting men with waxed moustaches. Well, so, to a certain extent L do. It often means vanity and sometimes drink. I Certainly, the • quill'' <ir lock of hair which some lads wear on their foreheads is a sure sign of silliness."

Apart from being of extreme intciosl; ami value to boys, the advice which the redoubtable l!.-P." gives iu these pages oil the art of judging character by keeping your open should be of much service to grown-ups. You can generally tell from a person's hoots whether he is rich or poor. "I was once able.' 1 says Iho famous soldier, "to-be of service to a lady who

was ill poor circumstances, a* I had guessed it from noticing, while walking behind her, that, though she was well dressed, the soles ot her shoes were in the last stage of disrepair. I don't suppose she ever know how 1 guessed that she wag in a ibad way. " But it is surprising how mueli the sole of the hoot you can see when behind a person walking—and it in

equally surprising how nuich meaning you can read from that boot. It is said tlr.it to wear out soles and heels equally is to "ive evidence of business capacity and honesty; to wear your heels down on the outside means that you are a mail of imagination and love of adventure: but heeds worn down on tfie inside siguifv weakness and indecision of character/and this last sign is more infallible in the case of a man than in that of woman.

"ft is an amusing practice when you are in a railway carriage or omnibus with other people to look only at their fei't and guess without looking any higher what sort of people they are, old or young, well-to-do or poor, fat or thin, and so on, and then look up and see how near you have been to the truth. "Mr. Xat (loodwin, the American actor. once described to me how he, went to sen a balloon nscent at a time when he happened to be suffering from a still' lieck'. Ill' was only able to look down instead of up—and lie could easily see the feet of (lie people round him in the. crowd, so lie chose among the feet those that lie felt sure belonged to an affable, kind-hearted man who would describe to him what the balloon was doing.

" 1 was -peaking to a detective not long ago about a gentleman we had hoth ibeeir talking 10, and we were I l ying to make out liis character. T remarked, "Well, at any l'ale. he is a lishcriuan,' but my companion eould uol see whv; but. then in l was not a lislier-

iiian himself. I had noticed a lot of Hide tufts of cloth sticking upon S*io lefl cull' of his coat. " A good many fishermen, when they iake liieir flies off the line, slick then', into their cap lo drv: others stick them into their sleeve. When dry they pud them out. which often tears a thread or two of llio elotli."