IV
Clara Barton—the pitying sweetness which fills her eyes and the sympathetic lines which have been drawn about her mouth bear witness to a long intimacy with suffering and death.
Central (Mo.)Christian Advocate. (1912)
Central (Mo.)Christian Advocate. (1912)
Central (Mo.)Christian Advocate. (1912)
Central (Mo.)Christian Advocate. (1912)
Physiognomy is the language of the face.Jeremy Collier.
Physiognomy is reading the handwriting of nature upon the human countenance.Chatfield.
Palmistry is a science as old as the history of the human race. The mind deceives; the hand tells the truth; the thumb in particular, the tell-tale of character.
Dolores Cortez,Queen of the Spanish Gypsies.
Dolores Cortez,Queen of the Spanish Gypsies.
Dolores Cortez,Queen of the Spanish Gypsies.
Dolores Cortez,Queen of the Spanish Gypsies.
Show me an outspread hand and I’ll show you whether or not its master is honest, is kind, is affectionate.
Arthur Delroy,Author.
Arthur Delroy,Author.
Arthur Delroy,Author.
Arthur Delroy,Author.
Human nature, as unfolded by phrenology, is being universally accepted by all classes of people.Cranium.
Phrenology can be used in every phase of life.C. S. Hardison.
Phrenology is very fruitful in its capacity to paint mental images.
Miss Jessie Allen Fowler.
Phrenology,—a science that has been of great help to us in the progress of life.Doctor Charles H. Shepard.
The shape of the brain may generally be ascertained by the form of the skull.O. S. and L. N. Fowler.
Phrenology professes to point out a connection between certainmanifestations of the mental and peculiar conditions and developments of the brain.O. S. and L. N. Fowler.
Of all the people in England, I was most glad to meet Doctor L. N. Fowler, the same gentle, kind man he used to be so many years ago, and who has done so much for the middle classes of England, giving them helpful advice they could not get from other sources.Clara Barton.
Remembering that fully one-fifth of my life (1856) has been passed as a teacher in schools, it is not strange that I should feel some interest in the cause of education.Clara Barton.
’Tis education forms the common mind; just as the twig is bent the tree is inclined.Alexander Pope.
The physiognomist reads character in the face; the palmist in the hand; the phrenologist in the skull. Physiognomy since the origin of man has been nature’s open book. The science of palmistry is at least five thousand years old; but the science of phrenology is of comparatively recent origin. When Clara Barton was a little girl phrenology received its really first great impulse in this country, through the lectures and writings of the Doctors Fowler of England. In England, as in this country, phrenology was then the subject of much ridicule. Of this strange science Thomas Hood sarcastically writes:
’Tis strange how like a very dunce,Man, with his bumps upon his sconce,Had lived so long; and yet no knowledge heHas had, till lately, of phrenology—A science that by simple dint ofHead-combining he should find a hint of,When scratching o’er those little pole-hillsThe faculties threw up like mole hills.
’Tis strange how like a very dunce,Man, with his bumps upon his sconce,Had lived so long; and yet no knowledge heHas had, till lately, of phrenology—A science that by simple dint ofHead-combining he should find a hint of,When scratching o’er those little pole-hillsThe faculties threw up like mole hills.
’Tis strange how like a very dunce,Man, with his bumps upon his sconce,Had lived so long; and yet no knowledge heHas had, till lately, of phrenology—A science that by simple dint ofHead-combining he should find a hint of,When scratching o’er those little pole-hillsThe faculties threw up like mole hills.
’Tis strange how like a very dunce,
Man, with his bumps upon his sconce,
Had lived so long; and yet no knowledge he
Has had, till lately, of phrenology—
A science that by simple dint of
Head-combining he should find a hint of,
When scratching o’er those little pole-hills
The faculties threw up like mole hills.
Little Clara was bashful, afraid of strangers, too timid to sit at the family table when guests were present; would not so much as tell her name when asked to do so. When spoken to by a stranger she would burst out crying—sometimes leaving the room. Now and then she would go hungry rather than ask a favor even of a member of the family. Doctor L. N. Fowler visited Oxford. While there he was a guest at the Barton home.
Doctor, what shall we do with this girl, asked the mother; she annoys us almost to death. We can hardly speak to her without her crying, from fear. The doctor examined her head. He replied, she is timid, that’s all. The “bump” of fear is over-developed. Nothing will change a child’s innate fear; that is a characteristic of her nature. She may outgrow it to some extent but her sensitive nature will remain as long as she lives. The doctor advised the parents to give her something to do; to keep her at work, and thus to let her forget herself. Don’t scold her; encourage her. When she does anything well, give her full credit—compliment her. Throw responsibility on her; when she is old enough give her a school to teach.
To be understood is the basis of friendship. The Doctor understood Clara; little Clara understood the Doctor. They became friends. That friendship lasted through life. Many years after the Doctor visited Oxford Clara Barton visited the Doctor, in London. They spent evenings together. The Doctor renewed his interest in the people of those early days in New England. He especially recalled the characteristics of Miss Barton’s father;—they became mutually reminiscent of the days of her childhood. The Doctorhad then become old and decrepit but was still giving lectures on phrenology. The happiest hours Clara Barton spent in England were in the home of the Fowlers; with the Doctor, his charming wife and three beautiful daughters.