Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/179

 HISTORY OF GOODHUE (*<>( vn 131 Mere on the path, over the shingle and up the river, where our absent friend evidently had gone. After a time my apprehensions were almost quieted in regard to "Webster, and I was watching the countenance of the speaker as it swayed under the various emotions called up by the incidents of the day, when a noise startled me. Turning around I saw Webster approaching a few yards away, evidently in a more easy state of mind. On he came, and 1 was hopeful that none of the proprieties of the day or occa- sion had been violated, but when within ten feet of me he sud- denly extended his right arm, softly exclaiming 'Look there.' I sprang to my feet and beheld the very incarnation of piscatorial beauty, his colors unladed and the light of life still in his eye. My exclamation brought Brother Shaffer to a sitting position. His eyes had an imperfect vision, and he sternly exclaimed, 'Oh,, you wicked, wicked man.' Webster skilfully displayed the full- length broadside to view. Brother Shaffer was on his feet in a twinkling, fondling the fish, and the words, 'Oh, isn't he a beauty!' burst involuntarily from his lips, his admiration obliter- ating all thought of the crime. A rebuke was now powerless, as he himself, by his involuntary exclamation and action, was not above the temptation^ but in fact participated in the fault. "The human countenance, as a reflex mirror of impressions on the mental organization, is a pleasing and instructive study, from, the very inception of the stimuli on the infant brain up to its maximum in mature manhood, thence following on the w T aning side of life to those changes which shadow forth the coming of second childhood. Friend Shaffer's physiognomy for a brief season well repaid study and analyzation. First were traces of sorrow and rebuke, then surprise and wonder, followed quickly by signs of extravagant admiration, thence down the grade to shame and humiliation. The thought waves were electrical in velocity — each ripple expressing a sentiment or emotion which the most rapid symbolism could not trace on paper. A single character would have to represent the emotional name ; to eluci- date it would require pages, yet it was plainly written, and in as legible characters as though carved in 'monumental marble.' With a sigh he subsided into his former position, realizing, doubt- less, the weakness and imperfection of human nature, and that even the best of men are as 'prone to do evil as the sparks are to fly upw T ard.' "I think all those who saw that little episode will never for- get it. It Avas one of the incidents that language cannot com- municate or the artist's pencil portray; the finer features of the picture would be inevitably lost. My thoughts called up Uncle Toby's violation of the third commandment, in his anxiety to relieve the poor lieutenant, and I would adopt the author's views