by Elsie Lincoln Benedict
Available in 98 free installments
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¶ "The springy step" must have been invented to describe the walk of the Thoracic. No matter how hurried, his walk has more grace than the walk of other types. He does not stumble; and it is seldom that a Thoracic steps on the train of his partner's gown.
¶ The way you sit tells a great deal about your nature. One of the first secrets it betrays is whether you are by nature graceful or ungainly. The person who sits gracefully, who seems to drape himself becomingly upon a chair and to arise from it with ease is usually a Thoracic.
Their excess of energy sometimes gives them the appearance of "fidgeting," but it is an easy, graceful fidget and not as disturbing as that of other types.
¶ Quick eyes and keen ears are characteristic of the Thoracics. The millions of stimuli?the sounds, sights and smells impinging every waking moment upon the human consciousness?affect him more quickly and more intensely than any other type. The acuteness of all our senses depends, to a far greater extent than we have hitherto supposed, upon proper heart and lung action.
Take long, deep breaths for five minutes in the open air while walking rapidly enough to make your heart pound, and see how much keener your senses are at the end of that time.
The Thoracic is chronically in this condition because his heart and lungs are going at top speed habitually and naturally all his life.
¶ Because bodily temperature varies according to the amount of blood and the rapidity of its circulation, this type is always warmer than others. He is extremely susceptible to heat, suffers keenly in warm rooms or warm weather and wears fewer wraps in winter. The majority of bathers at the beaches in summer are largely of this type.
¶ Nerves as taut as a violin string?due to his acute physical senses and his thin, sensitive skin?plus his instantaneous quickness make the Thoracic what is known as "high-strung."
¶ Because he is keyed to high C by nature, the Thoracic has more of that quality called temperament than any other type.
The wag who said that "temperament was mostly temper" might have reversed it and still have been right. For temper is largely a matter of temperament. Since the Thoracics have more "temperament" it follows naturally that they have more temper, or rather that they show it oftener, just as they show their delightful qualities oftener.
¶ This type, consciously and unconsciously, is a "continuous performance." He is showing you something of himself every moment and if you are interested in human nature, as your reading of this book suggests, you are going to find him a fascinating subject. He is expressing his feelings with more or less abandon all the time and he is likely to express as many as a dozen different ones in as many moments.
¶ "Flying off the handle," and "going up in the air" are phrases originally inspired by our dear, delightful friends, the Thoracics.
Other types do these more or less temperamental things but they do not do them as frequently nor on as short notice as this type.
¶ A fiery nature is part and parcel of the Thoracic's makeup. But did you ever see a fiery-natured man who didn't have lots of warm friends! It is the grouch?in whom the fire starts slowly and smoulders indefinitely?that nobody likes. But the man who flares up, flames for a moment and is calm the next never lacks for companions or devotees.
¶ One may belong to the Thoracic type whether his hair is blonde or brunette or any of the shades between, but it is an interesting fact that most of the red-haired are largely of this type. "He didn't have red hair for nothing" is a famous phrase that has been applied to the red-haired, quick-tempered Thoracic for generations.
You will be interested to note that this high color and high chest are distinctly noticeable in most of the red-haired people you know?certain proof that they approximate this type.
