Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 June 1893 — Right or Left Handed. [ARTICLE]

Right or Left Handed.

The despised left hand makes good its claims in many cases to be the defter of the two. The fingers that touch and adjust with such nicety the strings of the violin are surely as cunning as those that move the bow. The hand that guides the reins and steers with exactness the horse through the crowded streets is quite as cunning as, one might say much more than, the hand that wields the whip. But great is fashion, unanswerable is theory. It would appear that as life becomes more and more complex we are becoming more and more specialized, and the difference between our limbs is encouraged, rather than hindered, by every pair of scissors turned out at Sheffield, by every screw made in Birmingham, and by every slap given to the young offending fingers that would dare to shake hands incorrectly. It is curious to notice the vagaries of humanity in cases where no hard and fast line Las been already drawn. Although most right-handed persons put on their coats left arm first, a considerable percentage thrust in the right first. Soldiers fire from the right shoulder, but sportsmen are found who prefer the left. In working with the spade a proportion of right-handed men grasp the spade with the left and push with the left foot and right f hand; though when using an axe the same individuals would grasp furthest down witb the right. The Persians mount their horses from the right side, which is the different side from that mounted by Europeans. The buttons on coats, etc., are placed on the right side and the shed of the hair in boys to the left, evidently to suit manipulation by the right hand. The great philosopher Newton records that at first he confined his astronomical observations to his right eye, but afterward he managed to train his left. But there are persons who could not do this, owing to the unequal strength of their eyes. Strange to say, the Chinese assign the place of honor to the left.