dent, if occasion requires,--gives others all their rights, and
pertinaciously insists upon his own." Here the mechanic took his hands
from his pocket. "Hold! I said he was a mechanic. He is not,--he is a
house-painter."

I desired to be informed by what indications he judged him to be a
painter. He replied, that he so judged from the general appearance
and motions, and that it was difficult to specify. I insisted, and he
remarked that "the easy roll of his wrists was indicative."

After obtaining similar correct descriptions of men well known to me,
I spied one whom I did not know, and who was dressed peculiarly. I
inquired his occupation, and Mr. Sidney, without turning a glance
towards me, and still gazing through the half-opened shutters, replied,
"Yes! you never saw him before, yourself. He is a stranger in town, as
is evident from the fact of his being dressed in his best suit, and by
the manner of his taking observations. Besides, there is no opportunity
in these parts for him to follow his trade. He is a glass-blower. You
may perceive he is a little deaf, and the curvature of his motions also
indicates his occupation."

Whether this description was correct or not I failed to ascertain.

Mr. Sidney contended that any man of ordinary perceptive faculties need
never mistake a gambler, as the marks on the tribe were as distinct as
the complexion of the Ethiopian,--that, of honest callings, dealers in
cattle could be most easily discovered,--that immorality indicated its
kind invariably in the muscles of the face,--that sympathetic qualities,
love and the desire of being loved, taste and refinement,--were among
the most perspicuous in the outline of the face.

A man of very gentlemanly appearance was approaching, whom Mr. Sidney
pronounced a gambler, and also engaged in some other branch of iniquity.
His appearance was so remarkably good that I doubted. He turned the
corner, and immediately Mr. Sidney hastened to the street and soon
returned, saying he had ascertained his history: that he was in the
counterfeiting department,--that his conscience affected his nerves,
and consequently his motions,--that he was a stranger in town, and was
restless and disquieted,--that he would not remain many hours here, as
he had an enterprise on hand, and was about it. I remarked, that, as the
contrary never could be proved, he was perfectly safe in his prophecy,
when Mr. Sidney rose from his chair, and, approaching me, slowly s