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The Born Mechanic Picks Up Every Object With a
“Balanced Hold,’’ Like This.
Sarah Bernhardt’s
Ten Command- .
ments of Youth
1— Have one chief, absorbing interest in life.
2 Have other interests, "little interests” of life, to
keep you from becoming one-sided.
3 Decide what are the essentials of your life and
concentrate upon them.
4 Decide what are the non-essentials and disregard
them.
sBe interested In everything that happens, for the
moment, but do not let the Interest become too deep.
6 Eat what you like when you like, but not as much
as you like.
7 Drink much water and lemonade.
8— Sleep whenever, wherever, you are sleepy.
9 Stop to rest for a minute, many times a day
These little rests prolong life.
10—Find your work. Then regard that work as a
pleasure, not a penalty.
TO the woman who would keep
young, and that is every
woman, 1 give freely my ten
commandments of youth.
They are distilled out of the expe
rience of sixty-seven years. The
years have been crowded with work,
overflowing with abundant life,
brimming with zest and joy. They
are years that have been lived, not
existed nor endured
The Greatest of Books has a
phrase that haunts pleasantly my
mind. It is*"life more abundantly.”
That should bo the desire of every
normal mind, to have life more
abundantly. On the streets, in the
trains, on the steamboats, I meet —
you meet —persons who have life not
abundantly, but sparsely. They are
only partly alive.
Many persons are only half alive,
many only a third alive. Their eyes
are fishy, their eyeballs seem sta
'■ ", * ' ’' '
Mme. Bernhardt Fishing In a Brook on Belle Isle.
By Sarah Bernhardt
fe°anmes th heavv CeS T h abby and thelr
though fhc rhey walk as
feet as thn k weights »l>on their
woo’ de a n S t Sh „ ,heir j° ints were
, tbese Persons are
to sfv rS -. long to wake them.
Refuse' to ho ‘ Walk about dea “-
abundantly.” 6 3 corpse ‘ Hav * «*»
To have an abundance of life one
must draw from life one great ab
sorbmg interest. It may be our’ am
bition, our work, our family, what
ever it is it must be absorbing for
so long as you are deeply interested
in something you will remain young,
1 have crossed on the steamers with
some of your great American iinan
ciers, and F have exclaimed: "How
young the Jr look!” It is because
they have an absorbing interest, the
interest in the great game of finance
in which they are such skilled play
ers.
For myself, my work has always
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How the Progressive Employer
Judges a Man’s Mechanical Ability
by the Size and Shape of His Hands
IF you are looking for a job, look
first at your hand and learn
from it whether you are best
fitted for manual or clerical work.
If you are an employer, look at
a man’s hand and see whether he
is fit for the work you need done.
The good mechanic shows his
ability merely by the way he picks
up a thing.
These are the points of a very
ingenious argument in “Factory,”
by George K. Barrett, who has had
View of a Good Mechanic’s Hand,
Showing Strong Thumb and
Forefinger.
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The Square,
Broad Palm of
a Good
Mechanic’s
Hand.
The Feeble,
Unsymmetrical
Palm of a
Shop-Sweeper,
an Unskilled
Worker.
e en the one great passion of my
0 ( t has absorbed me, but not
consumed me Mark the difference,
t has not been as the flame to the
uel which it licks up and destroys.
, as too ocean beating ceaselessly
Jtainst the shore. It has not taken
y 'ite, but it has given me life.
■ 1 lave worked hard, but enjoying
, Never even when I was physi
cally exhausted did my spirit faint
at my work. A woman’s youth is
in her soul, and my soul has always
Deen filled with worship for my
work How to make that work finer,
stronger, more beautiful, has been
the purpose of my life, the supreme
object, the paramount consideration.
So, never since I became an actress
have I broken that, my flrßt com
mandment: “Have one chief, ab
sorbing interest in life.”
I have done much work, but I
have enjoyed many pleasures. I
have had many ‘‘little interests” in
life to keep me from becoming one
sided or warped. My life, aside from
my work, has been a whirling suc
cession of fads. I have painted pic
tures and have sculptured images. I
have ascended the air in balloons. 1
have written essays, stories, my
memoirs, even plays. All this to
amuse me, to make me light, to pre
vent that strained expression of
face that reflects a. corresponding
strain of the mind, as though a piece
of rubber had been drawn too tight
and were ready to snap. What if
one fad succeeds -another? They
serve their purpose for the day or
the week or the month, of making
one playful so that one may better
do her work. The butterfly one hour.
twenty years’ experience in watch
ing workmen and their hand 3.
“1 need not argue,” says Mr.
Barrett, “that there are many peo
ple who know that a narrow, re
treating chin indicates weakness of
character, while a square, protrud
ing chin indicates aggressiveness.
If the chin is a key to these traits
of character, why should not the
hands, that execute the work for
the brain, be equally indicative of
mechanical ingenuity? • * * It
seems entirely reasonable that the
characteristics of the hands should
be indicative of what the combina
tion of brain and hands can ac
complish. It is not only reasonable,
but I have found in actual, prac
tical tests that these characteristics
are my best guides in picking out
mechanics.
"When I say 'in picking out
mechanics’ I mean in picking men
with natural mechanical aptitude,
not expecting a farmer to turn into
an expert machinist the moment he
walks into a factory.
“But for the assembling depart
ment, where the work is such that
any intelligent man can do it, given
time, patience, and preliminary in
struction, I would rather have a
young man with the right sort of
hand and no experience, than one
with the wrong sort of hand and
unlimited experience. It will be
only a few days until the right sort
of hands will bo turning out more
work than the wrong sort of
hands.”
The following are the character
istics of a good mechanic’s hand,
as laid down by this expert: The
body of the hand should be square.
It should be the same width at the
base of the fingers and at the base
of the thumb, and as long from the
end of the wrist to the beginning of
the fingers as It is wide —literally
square. Thi3 proclaims a man who
Is methodical, obedient, and amen
able to reason. The fingers should
be of medium length, neither very
short, stubby fingers, which go with
selfishness and obstinacy, nor the
extremely long ones, which go with
argumentativeness and chronic dis
satisfaction. And they should be
of proper proportionate lengths;
second finger longest, third finger
next, index finger next, and the
little'finger the shortest. Lack of
proper proportion means an unbal
anced nature difficult to manage
from the predominance of some one !
or two traits.
The finger-joints should be well
developed and large, making what !
are called knotty fingers. This is j
a sign of exactness in work and
methods.
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The flnger-nallsS]
should be broad, short,
approximately square, to
and neither flat nor&
much rounded. The £j
cushions opposite thel
nails should be broad
and well developed, l -*
making the fingers
broadest at the ends.o
or at least as broad us
the well devel
oped center
joints. Fingers
with such nails
and cushions
invariably indi
cate ingenuity,
natural apti
tude for me
chanics, and
love of mechani
cal work for the
work itself.
The thumb
should neither
the working bee the other eleven, is
the real scheme of life.
I was but eighteen when I had a
flash of insight into the need of my
Ullrd commandment I aw women fa
my home circle and outside it who
were growing old before they were
thirty, because they were carrying
burdens that were unnecessary—
were wearing out their lives in a bat
tle with or for things that didn't
matter. 1 decided that there are
only a few things that count for
much, and that they count for so
much that slighter things should not
enter into the sum.
For instance, I decided that it was
pre-eminently worth while for me
to become a successful actress. That
was the great essential of my life. 1
decided that to be happy I must not
only have my work, but I must have
that interest in life which comes
from loving and being loved. These
were essentials, and desiring them
much I, of course, secured them.
That is the law of minds. We get
what we want if we want it enough
Bo success came to me, and lovo
come to me. I have In my dear son
Maurice an unceasing Joy. Even
though success had been denied me,
my love for this splendid man 1
bore would have been as a spring
gushing forth in a desert of life. 1
have lost some friends, but I have
made many more, and if I, Bern
hardt, am a little vain, it is that I
have friends of many years who love
me more now than at the beginning,
as I them. In my company are
players who have been with me
more than twenty years Among
these my dear Mme Busanne Seylor,
who is as my other self.
lie at right angles to the hand, a sign
of viciousness, nor should it lie close
to the hand, a sign of narrowness
and stupidity. In length the thumb
should reach nearly to the middlo
joint of the inde : finger. In other
respects it should have all the char
. acteristics of the fingers. Neither
thumb nor fingers should have any
pronounced tendency to bond back
ward, which means carelessness and
Instability.
"I hardly need say,” concludes
Mr. Barrett, "that this ideal mechan
ical hand it too ideal ever to be
found in its entire ideality on an ap
plicant for a factory job. 1 might be
all day telling of the variations 1
have noted, and then not bo through.
One good characteristic seems to
help balance a bad one. Thus the
hand indicates whether or not a
man is a desirable employee, and
also in what department lie will
prove most desirable. A man with
square hands and medium long
thumbs and fingers
with large Joints, even
:hough the digits are
not spatulate, is en
tirely fitted for work
on a drill press, where
die work is tedious n
its monotony, but
must be done with
careful exactness.”
The Workmanlike
Hand Has
Broad, Spatulate
and Big Joints,
Like This.
A Strong Hand, but Deficient in
Skill Owing to Unsymmetrical
Palm.
Uy Marcel Prevost
THE other day I asked myself
the question: ‘‘What Is the
happiest childhood?" Tha
question was suggested to mo by
reading an article in an American
newspaper. 1 read that at Bar
Harbor, the fashionable resort in
Maine, young Vinson McLean, the
heir of a multi-millionaire, was led
about in a baby carriage, having
the form of a steel cage, of which
the nurse alone possessed the kGy.
“Detectives armed to the teeth, pri
vate guards, thirty servants, and
fifty employes protect the heir
against, any attempt at kidnapping
—for many rich children have been
stolen lately in the United States."
Thus the American newspaper
wrote and I suppose it expected to
excite the admiration and envy of
Its readers on behalf of young Vin
son McLean, so solidly padlocked
and so expensively guarded.
I imagine that most, readers, on
the other hand, will pity with all
their hearts this Infantile and mill
ionaire prisoner. The victim of his
millions from his cradle, Vinson
McLean will know nothing of that
Intense happiness of ordinary child
hood, which even the happiest man
always holds in regretful memory
The first notion that the appear
ance of things must force on the
mind of Vinson McLean Is that life
is full of anxieties and of fearfuineas
and security. Ills mother will em
brace him, no doubt, but how ran
maternal tenderness expand be
tween two cagings, under the eye
of detectives, revolver In hand?
Now, I believe that the most mar
vellous attribute of infancy is that
combination so rare, so fleeting, in
human life, of utter carelessness
with the sentiment of security.
The truly happy child has no
cares; neither the future nor the
present disturbs him. He Is con
vinced that invisible forces protect
him. As soon as he goes to his
nurse or his parents, he can run no
danger. In this he deceives himself,
but this error la the very condition
of his happiness Little Vinson
McLean, on the other hand, will
know from his third year that life
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Not the Happiest Ones
is not so simple; that the arms of a
mother or a nurse do not suffice to
protect the millionaire of three
years. Ho also must have bars of
steel, padlocks, an army of agents.
It is tlie first black curtain
stretched between life and his eyes.
Another charming prerogative of
childhood which the caged Innocent
of liar Harbor will not enjoy is the
personal discovery of life, that
creation of the exterior world ac
complished by a child as the vision
widens, his step stretches out and
his intelligence grows. Taine has
truly said that all children are
poets; the grown poets, he adds,
are men who have preserved their
childish vision. The poet will be
still-born In Vinson McLean Be
cause Wberty Is indispensable for
the poetic invention of llle. Indeed,
n child prisoner loft alone In his
prison woul.l be more enviable than
this human treasure in a strong
SS guarded by an army. Nothing
of exterior things will come to him
directly. His guards will hide tb,
world from him. It Is a
case, it Is true, in this extreme
form bin In a milder form, Is it
n ot the case of all very rich chit
drThl poor children are introduced
to lire by their experience, brief and
irroDluK. It is true, but personal You,
little Vinson, are only initiated by
a sort of conventional translation ol
life When the freedom of looking
about you shall at last he given to
you When your guards shall no
longer be about you, It will be too
late; you will be nhlo to do nothing
but look You will have lost that
creative power of vision that every
human being carries In his eyes
when he arrives In the world It Is
above all in the children of the rich
that the poet dies young.
Little Vinson Mci-can wilt have
another disadvantage as compared
with most, children. He will not go
into the future as Into an unknown
country, wondering without know
ing what he will see, without know
ing where the Journey will ® nU -
What exhausts the taste for life so
quickly among too rich children is
just the absence of the unknown in
their future. They are certain, or
they think themselves certain, or
enjoying always the eame life they
have now. Life Is to them no longer
a mystery. They have be
fore starting on their voyage. 'lhe
ears of the young multi-millionaire,
when the steel cage becomes too
small and he shall be permitted to
walk about under a strong guard,
will not hear his companions speak
of tilings to conquer, but of things
to defend.
At five years he will drag the
chain and ball of a past so sump
tuous that the future can only con
tinue it. Ho will have the soul of
an old man who halt succeeded. How
long must a life begun under such
conditions seem, even though it
lasts only twenty years!
Little Vinson McLean, yours Is so
little a happy childhood that when I
wish to Imagine the happiest child
hood I must imagine one exactly
the opposite of yours. In the first
place, the happiest childhood Is that
which combines with freedom from
care the strongest sentiment of se
curity
To let oneself be carried along by
an unsinkable boat, guided by an
infallible pilot, that is the sensa
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Why Millionaire
Children Are
‘‘Born In the country, of educated
but not wealthy parents, this boy
la far happier than the little
millionaire. '■
The Man Without Mechanical
Ability Holds an Object in
This Feeble Fashion.
tlon that man must always envy in
the child. But, In order that the
child may enjoy the feeling fully,
the face of tho pilot and his conver
sation must not betray anxiety, and
this mxlety we find among the pos
sessors of large fortunes, which are
always threatened, as well as In
needy homes, The happiest child
without doubt is the one whose
parents enjoy a moderate com
petence, are content with It and
have no other ambition than to stay
where they are.
Born in the country, of educated
but not wealthy parents, this boy
is far happier than the little mill
ionaire.
Who will be the child best placed
to exercise the delightful privilege
of creating the world before his
eyes as he discovers it? The child
with most liberty, the least watched.
As for that ia3t,e for voyages Into
the future, that appetite for the un
known which gives such a savor to
childish life, it seems to me that
only children who are too rich are
shut out from it. A child may dream
of winning glory while herding
sheep like young Burns, or in thread
ing his way through the marshes
like little Sardou. The most com
mon obstacle, at least in France, is
tho timidity of parents, and espe
cially of the mother. France is per
haps, tho only country in the world
where a child selects its career at
sixteen, with the sole hope that it
will he able to collect a fixed pen
sion at sixty.
I believe that the happieet child
hood for a little French boy Is to
be the child of parents of cultivated
minds, who live at ease on $2,000 a
year, in a house in the country. No
college, not too many teachers, a
father and mother capable of direct
ing education. A great deal of
liberty, a great deal of contact with
peasants.