The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-25
SECRET OF Personal FASCINATION.
From the Pau Mall Gazette.

N'VNs 1.e Wt Mdtt OttItfte .
Could any one unravel the mystery of per-
sonal fascination, he would surely reveal
stranger things than ''what songs the sirens
sang, or the symphony of the Abyssnian
maid playing on the duloimer." Subtle as
magnetism, inevitable as chemical attraction,
problematic as the very nature of physical ex-
lstence itself, this force surrounds us on every
side, and goes far TO make our social life the
complex thing we find it. Who can tell why
certain men and women exercise such infiu-
ence over those around themY an influence
often totally irrespective of the circumstances
usually held accountable for personal attrac-
ton. We do not speak here directly
of the passion of love. We speak
of the more complicated and hardly
less potent destinations to which men aud
women are subject in their relations as social
moral, and intellectual beings. Happily for
u.s. our life is many-sided, and if domestic
affections prove but apples of Sodom, there
are sympathies awaiting us in the world be-
yond the fireside as pure and lasting. Thought
and action will pail at times, and the mere
sense of existence becomes a weariness to
the spirits. But the spell of personal fascina-
ton holds us fast through all. There are
persons here and there who can no more
become common or unlovely in our eyes than
the flashing meteor or the one perfect rainbow
Of the summer. And why?
1t is little wonder that the mystery appears
so inscrutable, while the facts are so con-
Trajectory. That an individual extraordinarily
rich in gifts and graces should have the power
of attracting others seems natural enough.
Beauty in woman, for instance, holds as
legitimate q sway over all hearts as a mans
eloquence An elevated moral tone and an
intellect nobly exercised should surely bear
weight with inferior minds. Wit and lowell
ness, grace and wisdom, must certainly
bestow personal sovereignty on the possessor.
But on looking at facts, we find that no rule
can be applied at all. A man may be wiser
than Seneca, woman more beautiful than
Clytie, without possessing any immediate
power over others. There are persons into
whose presence we enter awe struck as Eneas
when crossing the threshold of the Sibyls
cave; but no divine afflatus breathes on our
seer, his stature dwindles down instead of at
tanning greater majesty, and we go away un-
edited and unbeleving On the other hand,
the men and women at whose feet we sit
spell-bound are frequently deficient in the
very qualities that supposed to hold the
world in fee. What does ugliness count for
In such reckoning? or instability of
character? OF rugged manner? or even tickle
ness? 1t often happens that of two brothers
the one who commands friends and allies by
hundreds is not only inferior to the first both
I morally and intellectually but inferior to the
mass of men and women he bends to his will
without apparent effort. AS often you will
find that out of several sisters the one who
rules the domestic kingdom with unlimited
4 sway, attracting and bewitching all those who
enter it, is the least lovely, and perhaps the
least amiable. Nay, she may be downright
ugly, and yet her subtle powers of fascination
perplex and defy all the handsome women of
her acquaintance.
If not in moral and physical perfections,
then, where shall we look for the secret of this
strange magnetism Doubtless such attri-
butes as melodious voice, graceful elocu-
ton, and characteristic manner account for
much superficial admiration; but they do not
account for the more lasting homage of which
n we speak. Go into any ordinary drawing
room and say whether the likes and dislikes of
stereotyped society are insipid or no. In
every circle there is sure to be one man or
! one woman whose powers of fascination are
too strong to be always harmless. Abnormal
influence over others, moreover, is apt of
itself to lead to caprice and cruelty
else it. The very intensity of the allegiance
yielded by their worshippers is a temptation
to submit them to another and yet another
ordeal Or it may be-and here we touch
upon one of the saddest and strangest riddles
that perplex the thoughtful-some fatal in
stinct impels us to play with our best affec-
tions as recklessly as savages play with the
! life they have not learned to make lovely.
The game is one of alternate loss and gain; as
Heine expresses it
''Heute muss ich dafur leiden
Dass ich geStern glucklich war;"
To-day we suffer for having been happy yes
terday; and tomorrow we shall long for the
same happiness or misery, no matter which.
Life is many faceted as a diamond. Fresh
= interests crowd upon us from day to day till
we are in danger Of being helplessly swamped
by them; but none usurp the sovereignty OF
J the person who by sheer force of affinity, lido
syncrasy, call it what you will, seems to stand
nearer to us than all the rest of the world
j The domestic tie has evidently nothing to dc
with the question. Neither has sex, since one
u woman will often sway masses of women In {
81 degree wholly marvellous. Nor can age be-
4 taken into account; men, and even women,
far advanced in years not unfrequently
'the cynosure of all eyes" in a brilliant crowd
< Still less must the allurements of outer cir
# cumstance presuppose an excessive influence
over others. A duke may quite possibl,
prove a bore, and you turn from him to some
shabby, apparently insignificant person, who's
81 words hold you by magic force, whose pre-
"a sence seems magnifed as he speaks, who's
M eyes flash inspiration upon you. The theor.
e that moral supremacy and personal fascination
E 90 hand in hand is not tenable for moment
"a Lamentably enough, experience teaches tina
the very person whose will acts upon other
like charm may be Comus or Vivien
we take less extreme cases, we must ALLOW
M elevation of character to have very little shar
in the influence exercised by one human being
over many others, meaning by influence tina