Part 24 (1/2)
Among those present was a rustic couple, who appeared to be on a wedding trip. The bridegroom was dressed in a full suit of blue cloth, the coat being decorated with bra.s.s b.u.t.tons, while the bride was resplendent in a dress brilliant in color and with large figures.
”Sally,” said the young husband, ”I want you to have your head examined. It only costs a quarter.”
”Oh, Jonathan, how can I before all them folks?” said Sally bashfully. ”Suppose he should say something bad about me.”
”If he does, I'll bu'st his head,” said Jonathan. ”He can't say nothin' but what's good about you, Sally.
”All right, Jonathan, just as you say.”
”My wife will have her head examined,” said Jonathan, with a proud glance at his radiant bride.
”Please sit here, madam,” said the professor. ”Now I will trouble you to remove your bonnet.”
”Don't tumble up my hair,” said Sally solicitously.
”That will not be necessary,” said Prof. Crane. ”This lady has a very harmonious head.”
”What's that?” inquired Sally, in a low voice, of Jonathan, who stood at her side.
”Something good, I reckon,” whispered her husband.
”She has those sweet domestic virtues which fit the possessor to adorn the family circle and lend a l.u.s.ter to the home.”
”How nice he talks!” murmured Sally, in a tone of gratification.
”Yes, Sally, he's smart,” said Jonathan, ”and can read you like a book.”
”This lady has a great taste for music. She would be like to excel as a musician. Am I right, sir?”
”I guess you are,” said Jonathan. ”You'd ought to hear her sing in the choir to hum. She's got a powerful voice, Sally has. She can almost raise the rafters of the old meetin'-house.”
”You see, ladies and gentlemen, that the husband of the lady confirms what I say of her. Phrenology never errs. A phrenologist is never mistaken in character. Nature has stamped her impress upon each one of us, and declares unmistakably what we are.”
”Go ahead, professor,” said Jonathan impatiently.
”The lady has a taste for strong and decided colors. What is showy attracts her admiration.”
”That's so!” commented Jonathan.
”She has a good deal of firmness, and likes to have her own way; as most of use do,” added the professor. ”Still she would yield to strong persuasion.”
It will be unnecessary to go farther in the examination which proved quite satisfactory to the young couple, and a source of amus.e.m.e.nt to the rest of the pa.s.sengers.
Jonathan next submitted himself to the professor's skill, and was highly delighted in being told that he was fitted to s.h.i.+ne in public life, and might hereafter become a member of Congress.
”I guess the folks at home will think more of me when they hear that,”
he remarked to Sally. ”The professor has given us good characters.”
”So he has. Do you think it's all true, Jonathan?”