by Elsie Lincoln Benedict
Available in 98 free installments
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¶ We are all interested in the little comings and goings of our friends. Upon this fact every magazine and newspaper builds its "human interest" stories. We may be indifferent to what the President of the United States is doing about international relations but what he had for breakfast is mighty interesting. Few people read inaugural addresses, significant though they often are to the world and to the reader himself. But if the President would write ten volumes on "Just How I Spend My Sundays," it would be a "best seller."
¶ Personal experiences, personal secrets and personal preferences are subjects we are all interested in. These are the very things with which the Thoracic regales his friends and about which he is more frank and outspoken than any other type. He makes many friends by his obvious openness and his capacity for seeing the interesting details which others overlook.
¶ Colorful, vivid words and phrases come easily to the tongue of this type for he sees the unusual, the fascinating, in everything. Since any one can make a thing interesting to others if he is really interested in it himself, the Thoracic makes others see and feel what he describes. He is therefore known as the most charming conversationalist.
¶ The most beautiful voices belong to people who are largely of this type. This is due, as we have said before, to physiological causes. The high chest, sensitive vocal cords, capacious sounding boards in the nose and roof of the mouth all tend to give the voice of the Thoracic many nuances and accents never found in other types.
His pleasing voice plus the vividness of his expressions and his lack of reticence in giving the intimate and interesting details are other traits which help to make the Thoracic a lively companion.
¶ The most beloved people in the world are the spontaneous. We lead such drab lives ourselves and keep back so much, we like to see a little Niagara of human emotion occasionally. The Thoracic feels everything keenly. Life's experiences make vivid records on the sensitive plate of his mind. He puts them on the Victrola that is himself and proceeds to run them off for your entertainment.
¶ "A constant stream of talk" must have been first said in describing this type. For while others are carefully guarding their real feelings and thoughts the Thoracic goes merrily on relieving himself of his.
More sedate and somber types call the Thoracics "bubblers" or "spouters" just for this reason.
¶ "That person's talk gets on my nerves," is a remark often made by one of the staid, stiff types concerning the seldom silent, extremely florid individual. So natural is this to the Thoracic that he is entirely unconscious of the wearing effect he has on other people.
¶ Seeing the funny side of everything is a capacity which comes more naturally to this type than to others. This is due to the psychological fact that nothing is truly humorous save what is slightly "out of plumb."
Real humor lies in detecting and describing that intangible quirk. No type has the sensitiveness essential to this in any such degree as the Thoracic. Individuals of other types sometimes possess a keen sense of humor. This trait is not confined to the Thoracic. But it is a significant fact that almost every humorist of note has had this type as the first or second element in his makeup.
¶ "He is a skyrocket," or "she is a firefly," are phrases often used to describe that vivacious individual whose adeptness at repartee puts the rest of the crowd in the background. These people are always largely or purely Thoracic. They never belong predominately to the fourth type.
The next time you find such a person note how his eyes flash, how his color comes and goes and the many indescribable gradations of voice which make him the center of things.
"He is always shooting sparks," said a man recently in describing a florid, high-chested friend.
