endliness which they really intend to
manifest. The latter fault is often due to diffidence or awkward
self-consciousness; the former is usually traceable to the caprice of
an undisciplined nature, and is a significant mark of ill-breeding.

The vital part of a greeting is in the expression of the eyes. This is
so nearly spontaneous that the most guarded cannot altogether veil the
spirit that looks out of these "windows of the soul." The studied
attitude and genuflection fail to hide surliness or contempt; and
hostility, bitter and implacable, may reveal itself by the smoldering
spark of anger in the eye, and destroy the effect of the most artful
obsequiousness of manner. Since we cannot control this one
impulsively-truthful medium of expression, it becomes a matter of
policy as well as of morals to harbor no spirits whose "possession" of
us would be an unpleasant and inconvenient revelation.

Next to the eyes, the pose of the figure indicates the sentiment of the
moment. Arrogant assumption of superiority may be read in the expanded
chest, the stiffened neck, and the head thrown backward at a decided
angle; or, subservient humility is seen in the forward-bending head and
the wilted droop of the shoulders. And again, the difference between a
real humility and the artificial deference which gallantry prompts is
easily detected. The gallant's head and shoulders are bowed, but not
in meekness, for there is a certain tension in the controlled muscles
that suggests that he can "straighten up" at will, whereas the really
humble man appears to have no power to lift his bowed head or equally
drooping spirit.

The bending of the head and trunk, or the "bow," is the final and most
active exponent of the spirit of the greeting. In its degrees and
gradations are marked the degrees of deference, real or formal.

The bow begins at the head, and may observe the following gradations:

It may be an inclination of the head only, differing from a "nod" in
the dignity of movement.

The inclination may extend to the shoulders, causing a slightly
perceptible forward leaning. This inclination may continue to the
waist line.

The extreme inclination bends the entire trunk from the hips. The legs
are straight and the feet near together, in the attitude of "position"
in free gymnastics.

In every bow, of whatever gradation, the movement should be slow, the
eye steady, the face serene, and the whole demeanor expressive of
poli