Friend from Foe
In a condition of affairs where every man’s hand was against his neighbor’s, the necessity of being able to tell friend from foe was more urgent than in these peaceable times.
When plotting was rife upon every hand, and one man possibly held the lives of many confederates in his power, knowing that an incautious word of his might doom them all to punishment and probably death, it became of paramount importance to have some means of discerning allies from enemies.
Obviously the means of finding out such important information must be such as to awaken no suspicion in the event of a mistake, whilst on the other hand there should be no possibility of a stranger inadvertently obtaining possession of the secret.
From earliest times the formation of Secret Societies has necessitated the invention of Secret Signs, and in nine cases out of ten, it may be said, the extinction of the societies from one cause or another has resulted in the loss of their secret signs of recognition.
There are, however, even now, several Societies or Fraternities whose members are possessed of certain signs whereby they can know each other, and in several cases they claim lineal descent from some of the old fraternities whose origins are lost in antiquity.
However, now that universal liberty, especially in this country, has abolished the necessity for concealment, secret political societies have disappeared, and with them their complicated systems of signs, tokens, and pass-words.
In certain colleges and schools societies still exist, and as a secret bond is held by many to be a very effective link in the dearest of friendships, below are given a few suggestions to enable you to invent some secret signs which shall be a tie between yourself and such friends as you may consider worthy of initiation into their meanings.
Like verbs, secret signs may be roughly classed into active and passive. Active signs are those which are given by movements of the limbs or contortions of the face, whilst passive signs are connected entirely with the disposal of parts of the clothing or the wearing of various objects attached to the person.
Amongst active signs, the readiest in execution are those performed by the hands in view of the person, whose attention it is desired to attract, e.g., the signs can be given at the moment of shaking hands, where such a ceremony is observed.