CONCEENING EYES 197 



without the interposing cloud of dark pigment 

 covering it. In the biography of Nathaniel Haw- 

 thorne, the author says of him: "His eyes were 

 large, dark-blue, brilliant, and full of varied ex- 

 pression. Bayard Taylor used to say that they 

 were the only eyes he ever knew to flash fire. . . . 

 While he was yet at college, an old gypsy woman, 

 meeting him suddenly in a woodland path, gazed 

 at him and asked, 



" 'Are you a man, or an angel?' " 



I may say here that gypsies are so accustomed 

 to concentrate their sight on the eyes of the people 

 they meet that they acquire a marvelous profi- 

 ciency in detecting their expression; they study 

 them with an object, as my friend the gambler 

 studied the backs of the cards he played with; 

 without seeing the eyes of their intended dupe 

 they would be at a loss what to say. 



To return to Hawthorne. His wife says in one 

 of her letters quoted in the book : * t The flame of 

 his eyes consumed compliment, cant, sham, and 

 falsehood; while the most wretched sinners so 

 many of whom came to confess to him met in his 

 glance such a pity and sympathy that they ceased 

 to be afraid of God and began to return to Him. 

 ... 7 never dared gaze at him, even I, unless his 

 lids were down." 



I think we have, most of us, seen eyes like these 

 eyes which one rather avoids meeting, because 

 when met one is startled by the sight of a naked 

 human soul brought so near. One person, at least, 



