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n。 Mark Twain's hand is full of whimsies and the drollest humours;
and while you hold it the drollery changes to sympathy and championship。
'Illustration: Copyright; 1907; by the Whitman Studio
The Medallion
The bas…relief on the wall is a portrait of the Queen Dowager of Spain;
which Her Majesty had made for Miss Keller
To face page 22'
I am told that the words I have just written do not 〃describe〃 the hands
of my friends; but merely endow them with the kindly human qualities
which I know they possess; and which language conveys in abstract words。
The criticism implies that I am not giving the primary truth of what I
feel; but how otherwise do descriptions in books I read; written by men
who can see; render the visible look of a face? I read that a face is
strong; gentle; that it is full of patience; of intellect; that it is
fine; sweet; noble; beautiful。 Have I not the same right to use these
words in describing what I feel as you have in describing what you see?
They express truly what I feel in the hand。 I am seldom conscious of
physical qualities; and I do not remember whether the fingers of a hand
are short or long; or the skin is moist or dry。 No more can you; without
conscious effort; recall the details of a face; even when you have seen
it many times。 If you do recall the features; and say that an eye is
blue; a chin sharp; a nose short; or a cheek sunken; I fancy that you do
not succeed well in giving the impression of the person;……not so well
as when you interpret at once to the heart the essential moral qualities
of the face……its humour; gravity; sadness; spirituality。 If I should
tell