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�they did not attempt to improve their characters. We have said that the selfish and arrogant may be polite, however they may affect it.

It is as true of the fairer portion of creation, as of the stronger sex. Many and many a girl and woman, whose faces are perpetually wreathed with stereotypical smiles, will impress a novice with the idea that amiable qualities alone can dwell under so pleasing an exterior; but even the tyro soon perceives that, underlying this exterior, bitterness, envy and hatred have too often made their indelible and hideous marks. True it is that such qualities are not allowed to break out, in social intercourse; but it would be far better for society that they should, for then even the novice would saved from the superficial fascinations.

The observer of the countenance, however, is very seldom deceived. He sees through the smiles which are created for the time being, to produce a general or special effect. And he is quite as well aware of volcanic powers while reposing on the verdure-clad brink of the crater, as when that crater may be in full blast. It is a common, but too often fatal mistake which people commit, when they suppose that anything but what they really are, appears to the world.