The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 62, December, 1862 by Various
page 42 of 280 (15%)
page 42 of 280 (15%)
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and motions, and that it was difficult to specify. I insisted, and he
remarked that "the easy roll of his wrists was indicative." After obtaining similar correct descriptions of men well known to me, I spied one whom I did not know, and who was dressed peculiarly. I inquired his occupation, and Mr. Sidney, without turning a glance towards me, and still gazing through the half-opened shutters, replied, "Yes! you never saw him before, yourself. He is a stranger in town, as is evident from the fact of his being dressed in his best suit, and by the manner of his taking observations. Besides, there is no opportunity in these parts for him to follow his trade. He is a glass-blower. You may perceive he is a little deaf, and the curvature of his motions also indicates his occupation." Whether this description was correct or not I failed to ascertain. Mr. Sidney contended that any man of ordinary perceptive faculties need never mistake a gambler, as the marks on the tribe were as distinct as the complexion of the Ethiopian,--that, of honest callings, dealers in cattle could be most easily discovered,--that immorality indicated its kind invariably in the muscles of the face,--that sympathetic qualities, love and the desire of being loved, taste and refinement,--were among the most perspicuous in the outline of the face. A man of very gentlemanly appearance was approaching, whom Mr. Sidney pronounced a gambler, and also engaged in some other branch of iniquity. His appearance was so remarkably good that I doubted. He turned the corner, and immediately Mr. Sidney hastened to the street and soon returned, saying he had ascertained his history: that he was in the counterfeiting department,--that his conscience affected his nerves, |
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