Part 16

OBSTINACY.--Small writing, heavy crossing to "t's" and angular letters.

ORDER.--Letters even, well formed and placed.

ORIGINALITY.--Eccentric forms of letters.

PENETRATIVE.--Acute letters, well-finished long upstrokes to "t's."

PERSEVERANCE.--The bars crossing the "t's" increasing in size.

POETRY, FEELING FOR.--Capital letters made like small ones in shape and neat well-formed words.

PRETENTIOUSNESS.--Many curves and involved capitals.

RETICENCE.--Closed "o's," "a's," and "e's."

SIGHT.--In affections of the eyes the terminals are unfinished.

SLY.--Dwindling ill-formed letters.

STINGY.--Cramped writing, close lines.

SUBTLETY.--Small letters and dwindling lines. (See 6.B.)

SELFISH.--The final coming round to the left, and making a complete loop on itself.

TEMPER, HASTY.--Angular stops.

IRRITABLE.--The cross-bars of the "t's" slightly hooked.

OBSTINATE.--The cross-bar ending in a decided harpoon or hook; a low thick bar. High and thick and tending sharply downward.

OBSTINACY AGAINST OWN INTERESTS.--A short straight down stroke.

CONTROL OF.--Dashes used instead of stops.

TRUE.--Clear, well-formed rounded letters.

VANITY.--Large flourished capitals, wide margins. (See B.7.)

WIT.--Small, rounded letters, generally undulating handwriting.

YOUR FACE IS YOUR FORTUNE

Everybody sums up the faces of his friends and of the people he meets. It is a habit we all have. But most of us are apt to classify these faces into groups according to whether the possessors are good-looking, ordinary or supremely ugly. We say to ourselves, "Isn't So-and-so charming," or alternatively, "How positively plain is So-and-so."

As a matter of fact, the degree of beauty expressed in an individual's face ought to count for very little. What ought to count is the character which his or her features reveal. Let it be said quite definitely that faces indicate character more accurately than any other physical property of an individual. A person can change his voice and he can check his actions, but he cannot alter his features for more than a second at a time, and then only superficially.

Thus it comes about that faces are definite indications of character, and these indications are fairly easy to read, once the rules are learned. Of course, all such things as accidental blemishes, such as scars and broken noses, must be ignored at the outset.

First, let us take the general shape of the face.

THE SHAPE OF THE FACE.--There can be thousands of different shapes, but the normal is shown by Fig. 1, where the width across the forehead is more than across the chin. The forehead, the nose and the rest of the face should be about equal in length.

Add to the width across the forehead and you have a brainy person, a clear thinker, a person whose opinions are worth considering. Of course, an excess of width in this place suggests some mental instability.