--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Edwin F. Parry collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 6 number: 7 published: 1903-05 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Edwin F. Parry, "Our Tell-Tale Looks and Actions," *Improvement Era* 6, no. 7 (May 1903): 516–520.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0607unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0607unse start_page: 516 end_page: 520 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1903-05) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0607unse publication_year: 1903 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1903, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Our Tell-Tale Looks and Actions OUR TELL-TALE LOOKS AND ACTIONS. BY EDWIN F. PARRY, OF SALT LAKE CITY. It is not an easy matter for one to disguise his looks, his voice, his walk, his language, his handwriting or his character. His appearance, actions, peculiarities or facial expressions betray him. We frequently recognize a person who is well known to us, by his walk or by the shape of his head, or some other distin- guishing mark, without seeing his face; we detect his voice when his person cannot be seen; we identify his handwriting by its peculiarity of style; sometimes we can discover who is the author of a literary composition by his mannerisms; and often one's character may be read in the expression upon the countenance without any other index. Such facts frequently aid in the detec- tion of criminals. But it is not my object to write about crime or criminals: it is only to relate some instances of personal observation that serve somewhat to show the truth of some of the above statements. A few years ago, I was a missionary in Great Britain. As the steamer on which I and other missionaries crossed the Atlantic was being moored alongside the landing stage at Liverpool, I noticed two young men walking along the platform, evidently waiting to meet some of the passengers on the vessel. There were many other people there, though these two were somewhat separated from the crowd. As my attention was drawn to them, the thought passed through my mind that possibly they were Latter-day Saint missionaries; and at just about the same instant, one of my companions, indicating the same couple, remarked that they looked like "Mormons." I asked him why he thought so, OUR TELL-TALE LOOKS AND ACTIONS. 517 but he seemed unable to give any particular reason for the belief. The young men appeared to be dressed in the same style as others near by; and, like myself, my companion was not acquainted with either of them. After disembarking, the passengers from the steamer went into the custom house to look after their baggage. There we met the two men whom we noticed on the landing stage some few minutes before. They introduced themselves to us as missionaries from the office at 42 Islington, and gave us directions as to having our heavy baggage conveyed to the office. As I walked up the street with one of these elders, I inquired of him how he was enabled to find us so readliy after we landed, not being personally acquainted with any in the company. He replied that he singled oufc each one of us while we were on the deck of the steamer, and that he had similarly located every company of missionaries that he had met at the landing during the year and a half he had been in Liverpool. It fell to my lot to labor in the office at 42 Islington, and during the twenty-seven months I spent there, I met many companies of missionaries as they arrived, and I, with others who accompanied me to the wharf, never failed to identify the elders as they stood on the deck of the incoming vessel. This was not such a remarkable feat as it might appear at first thought. Generally, the missionaries were grouped on the deck, and fre- quently some in the company would be wearing missionary suits, of the Prince Albert style, which they purchased before leaving home. It was very unusual if not impossible to find any but "Mormon" missfonaries wearing such clothing while traveling, so that was one unfailing mark of identification. The "chip" lunch basket, so frequently carried by missionaries while on the way to their field of labor was another such mark. The sunburnt faces of some of the Elders, though not a sure guide, assisted one in determining what part of the country they were from. On one of the principal thoroughfares leading down to the land- ing stage for steamships at Liverpool— Water Street ara several — shipping offices, or agencies where tickets may be secured f (>r the various steamship lines. These several agencies, anxious to .secure trade, have solicitors who stand about their doorways, on : 518 IMPROVEMENT ERA. the lookout for prospective customers. These men seem to know what a person is looking for when he comes along the street; and when they discover one whom they think has business of the nature they represent, they politely approach him, and invite him to the agency for which they are working. One day, I accom- panied two missionaries, who were in the place, to the vicinity of these agencies. They desired to make inquiry about their passage to Copenhagen, and, if satisfactory rates could be had, • purchase tickets for the trip. When some distance from the offices I met My services a friend, and stopped to talk with him. being needed only to guide them, it was not necessary for me to go with the elders any farther, as I could direct them to the office from the place where I met this friend, so they continued on, and I waited till they returned. Before entering the particular officewhere they intended to make their purchase, their attention was attracted, as they afterwards told me, by some notice in the window of the place. Presently the solicitor from the adjoining office —a rival agency —stepped up to them and said "Gentlemen, I you are looking for a steamship suppose agency just step inside this next door and Mr. R : can supply you with tickets to any place you may wish to go." The missionaries hesitated, but the solicitor was persistent, and he continued: "You are Americans, are you not? And you belong to the 'Mormon' people, too. Just come right in; the 'Mormons' do all their business with Mr. R ." This last plea was effective, and they followed the solicitor into the office, and bought their tickets. How the solicitor divined so readily that they were Americans, I did not at the time understand, as they had not said a word before he expressed to them his belief as to what country they were from. I afterwards concluded that it was by the cut of their clothes, or the style of their hats or shoes. His discovery that they were "Mormons" was an evidence that he was experienced in identifying people. That Americans are easily distinguished by their speech when in other lands, I had already learned; for one evening, some time be- fore, I had been down to the river Mersey to see a young mission- s OUR JELL-TALE LOOKS AND ACTIONS. 519 ary set sail for Belfast, Ireland. On applying for his berth he — made a remark which is characteristic of Americans "I guess so." A moment later, in the conversation, he mentioned that he was from America. The gentleman whom he was addressing replied, "You do not need to tell me that. I knew you were an American the moment you first spoke." The habit of saying, "I guess so," is not common with the Eng- lish people. The phrase is American. One Saturday afternoon, while going with others from Liver- pool to a town where a conference was to be held the next day, a gentleman who boarded our car at an intermediate station began a conversation with me by remarking, "I understand you people are going to hold some special meetings in the hall at tomorrow." One of our company answered that he was right, and then inquired how he had learned about the meetings. The stranger explained that he was a resident of the town to which we were going, and that the meetings had been advertised all about the place. The next question put to him was, how did he know we were "Mormons," for we were all strangers to the place. He knew us, he said, through his acquaintance with the mission- aries laboring in his town— in some way we resembled them. What seemed to me to be more remarkable than what I have already mentioned was the keen discernment of the custom officers of the Liverpool port, whose business it was to learn if any ar- ticles on which there was an import duty were being smuggled into the country. The articles subject to duty were tobacco, cigars, liquors, etc. Their method of j>rocedure was to first ques- tion the passengers, and then, if necessary, examine their trunks and parcels. Many times I observed them make the examination, and frequently I noticed that they found dutiable articles by searching trunks after the owners had, in answer to the examiner* questions, declared they had none. One day, I happened to be standing by a missionary who had just arrived, and who was in the act of opening his trunk (thinking, no doubt, that it was necessary for every package to be examined,) when an officer came along. "Hold on," said the latter; "have you any tobacco, cigars, or liquors in your trunk?" 520 IMPROVEMENT ERA. "No, sir," answered the missionary, and his baggage was stamped, and he was permitted to pass on without any further examination. The same question was then put to another man who was near by, and who had a trunk with him. The same an- swer was given as by the missionary passenger; but there was something in the appearance of the man's countenance, or the tone of the answer, that made the officer suspect he was not telling the truth, so he ordered him to unlock his trunk, and in it was found a quantity of tobacco, on which the traveler, of course, had to pay the required tariff. It appeared to me that the custom officers had learned to determine whether or not a man was telling the truth by the expression on his face, for I observed that they always looked a person in the face as they propounded a question to him. If a passenger chanced to be bending over his baggage while he was being questioned, the examining officer would stoop also to get a square look into his eye. One thing I was pleased to note: that is, that the elders had very little trouble in passing through the custom house. They had no object in carrying such things as are dutiable in Great Britain, and their answers to the questions usually asked were, so far as I observed, accepted without further verification, except the scru- tiny of their countenance. If any moral can be drawn from these narrations it is this: we should seek to cultivate such habits as we need not feel ashamed of, and to be straightforward and truthful in all our dealings. Why seek to deceive by false representations, when our true character can be read in our countenance? We are some- times reminded of the fact that we cannot hide our wrong-doing from the Lord nor from ourselves, by any kind of deception. It appears from the incidents that have been mentioned above, that it is a difficult matter to even deceive those of our fellow-men who are entire strangers to us.