Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 61, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 November 1911 — PROFESSOR READ THE SIGNS [ARTICLE]

PROFESSOR READ THE SIGNS

But Companion Had Doubts About Character of Boy, Despite Expert Opinion. The professor who reads character from physiognomy pointed to th 4 boy opposite. He belonged to the criminal type, said the professor. Look at his eyes, his ears, his cheek bones, his mouth—criminal, every one of them. The boy sat very still. All about him were other boys swinging ball bats, and cuffing each other’s ears, but that, the professor said, was only the natural overflow of animal spirits; the quiet boy was too thoroughly steeped in criminality to have any animal spirits. Just as the professor’s companion w r as beginning to wonder if it was safe to ride in the same car with the youthful degenerate the boy reached down into his pocket and brought forth a white flower. It was a common field flo*wer, a cluster of tiny white blossoms topping a slender stalk. The boy seemed very fond of it. He twirled the stalk, he stroked the leaves and petals, and every touch was soft and tender. But the professor had no eyes for those gentle fingers, he was intent on the unmistakable signs of inherited depravity. “A bad one, he is, all right,” said the professor with a solemn shake of the head. But the other person looked at the flower again. A bad one, was he? Kftiybe; but the ether person had doubts. '-A..