Below this mount we find Mars, which if very prominent, shows the owner to be brusque and violent; if it is small, look out for cowardice and meanness.
The mount of the Moon, which is found lower still, denotes a love of the mysterious; those possessing this mount to a high degree are also inclined to revery, as well as to idleness. They are likewise capricious, changeful, and irritable. In hard hands you will also read discontent and fanaticism.
The most important of all the lines on the hand is the line of life. If long, clear, and straight, it shows long life and good character; if pale and broad, the indications are ill health and a weak disposition; if thick and red, the owner is apt to be violent to brutality; if varying in thickness, this will show a fitful and high temper.
The greatest caution must be used by any reader of the hand, and before even a pretension is made to judge character or to foretell the future, much careful study of the many books on this subject should be given. The student must learn from different authorities, as well as by thoughtful study and comparison for himself. Many rules must be applied, and there are many conflicting forces to harmonize. The hand is of the utmost importance in human economy. Aristotle denominated it “the organ of the organs.” After the murder of Cicero at Caieta, not only his head but also his hands were exhibited in the Roman Forum. The homologies have been traced between the human hand and the paws of the brute creation, and it has been proved that to man alone was the perfect hand given, exquisite in beauty as well as paramount in usefulness.
Palmistry is an old science. As early as the year 1504 there was a book published in the city of London on The Art of Foretelling the Future Events by Inspection of the Hand. It has been asserted that Homer wrote on the lines of the hand. Probably most people are familiar with the verse assigned by the superstitions as Scriptural warrant for indulging in this popular art: Job xxxvii. 7, “He sealeth the hand of every man, that all may know his work.”
CHURCH COURTESY.
It was only a smile as the Hymn-book and Psalter were offered; it did not cost the young man anything, but it gave us, the recipients of his courtesy, pleasant satisfaction. We did not feel as if the books were grudgingly given, but rather that a sympathetic bond had united us, that we would like to know this cordial generous young fellow, and thought if this were a sample of the people in that church, we would like to make it our home. The entire service was so heightened by the incident that we scarcely missed our old familiar surroundings, and really had almost forgotten that we were strangers, so one with us the people appeared; and when the preacher later gave for his text the words, “The greatest of these is Love,” it seemed only natural that this should have been the thought selected.
By contrast, we felt severely the difference which the following Sabbath brought. It was again the early service, and we sat strangers in another city church. The opening hymn, which was not a familiar one, was announced, and an old man sitting in a pew behind gave us his book. Two young men occupying the seat with him each had a hymn-book with notes, but instead of looking on the same book, so having one to spare, they each selfishly kept their own, neither offering one to the old gentleman who, I later learned, had gone without for our sake, nor giving a book to two ladies who were in the pew with me, and were strangers like ourselves. As a result, we all felt uncomfortable; the clergyman’s sermon, excellent though it was, did not meet with proper response. Our thoughts were divided, the atmosphere was unpleasant, we claimed that the church seemed very cheerless, that even the lighting of it was not satisfactory, and, indeed, we were so unhappy by the ungracious action of the two young men back of us that we were glad when the benediction was pronounced, and we could, borrowing an illustration from the time of the Apostles, shake the dust off our feet, and turn toward home.