These little Strings



LITTLE STRINGS,


You may have amused yourself with a face made of gutta-percha, pinching it one way, and pulling it another, and marking what different expressions it will assume. When you left off pulling it, it returned to the same face it was before.

Now your faces are softer than gutta-percha, and they are full of little strings called muscles, and these muscles pull them one way or another, just according to your feelings. You feel sad; your little muscles pull your face into a doleful expression. We can tell by looking at you how you feel. 

Or you feel merry, then the muscles pull your face into smiles and dimples.

But often there are wicked passions at work at the strings. Anger pulls, and oh, what a disgraceful look the face puts on in a minute! Pride pulls the strings, or vanity, or discontent, or deceit, and each brings its own expression over the face.

The worst of it is that when these passions pull very often, the face does not return to what it was before, but the muscles harden, and retain that ugly impression. By indulging in evil passions, people may work their faces into such awful forms that sometimes when you meet a man in the street you can tell, just by looking at his face, what his character is.

A face that was very lovely when it was that of a child, has had the passion of anger pulling at it so often that it always wears a sullen, cross, dissatisfied look.

Now, dear children, do you want to have pleasant faces that every one will love to look at? Then don't let the ugly passions get hold of the strings. Put them into the hands of love, and charity, and goodwill, and truth, and honesty; and then they will be beautiful faces.

I have seen faces, without a single handsome feature, that were sweeter to look at than the most perfect features that were ever formed. And why? It is the expression; and what makes the expression? It all depends upon whether the bad passions or the lovely graces get hold on the little strings. 




Truth and Progress.





WHAT we think, is more or less revealed by our faces. Those versed in human nature can discern the workings of the mind by the expression of the countenance. Envious thoughts give a dissatisfied expression to the face, and all evil thoughts cut the features into ugly shapes. Pure, noble, and beautiful thoughts leave their impress upon the countenance, and fashion the features into loveliness.