l be precisely the opinion he holds to-day has either thought
very little, or to little purpose, or has resolved to quit thinking
altogether.

The Fine Art of Smiling.

Some theatrical experiments are being made at this time to show that all
possible emotions and all shades and gradations of emotion can be
expressed by facial action, and that the method of so expressing them can
be reduced to a system, and taught in a given number of lessons. It seems
a matter of question whether one would be likely to make love or evince
sorrow any more successfully by keeping in mind all the while the detailed
catalogue of his flexors and extensors, and contracting and relaxing No.
1, 2, or 3, according to rule. The human memory is a treacherous thing,
and what an enormous disaster would result from a very slight
forgetfulness in such a nicely adjusted system! The fatal effect of
dropping the superior maxillary when one intended to drop the inferior, or
of applying nervous stimuli to the up track, instead of the down, can
easily be conceived. Art is art, after all, be it ever so skilful and
triumphant, and science is only a slow reading of hieroglyphs. Nature sits
high and serene above both, and smiles compassionately on their efforts
to imitate and understand. And this brings us to what we have to say about
smiling. Do many people feel what a wonderful thing it is that each human
being is born into the world with his own smile? Eyes, nose, mouth, may be
merely average commonplace features; may look, taken singly, very much
like anybody's else eyes, nose, or mouth. Let whoever doubts this try the
simple but endlessly amusing experiment of setting half a dozen people
behind a perforated curtain, and making them put their eyes at the holes.
Not one eye in a hundred can be recognized, even by most familiar and
loving friends. But study smiles; observe, even in the most casual way,
the variety one sees in a day, and it will soon be felt what subtle
revelation they make, what infinite individuality they possess.

The purely natural smile, however, is seldom seen in adults; and it is on
this point that we wish to dwell. Very early in life people find out that
a smile is a weapon, mighty to avail in all sorts of crises. Hence, we see
the treacherous smile of the wily; the patronizing smile of the pompous;
the obsequious smile of the flatterer; the cynical smile of the satirist.
Very few of these have heard of Delsarte; but they outd