The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-25

way Beyond the isolated facts that intense
power of throwing oneself into the interests
of others constitutes sympathy, and sympathy
attracts; that from this very reason health,
without which 1t is almost impossible to exer-
else strong sympathy, is an invariable element
OF personal fascination; that contrast, whether
OF character, outward appearance, or even
circumstances, is often an allurement of the
strongest kind; that eccentricity, or, to use
more exact word 6izdTreri6, acts forcibly upon
the imaginative, what do we know? How far
is this power gift and how far an acquire
menR Why is the very fascination of some
the repugnance of others? What accounts
for the supreme pleasure of being led hither
and thither as the potentate of our affections
wills? These conclusions and inquiries lead
into still wider fields of speculation
The question: for instance, whether
personal fascination is wholly natu-
raj gift or a studied requirement de-
serves an essay to itself. OF the men and
women who enthrall and bewitch at pleasure,
how many do it involuntarily and how many
by the force of countless infnitesimal sacri-
fees on the altar of popularity? The analysis
of a character coming under the last category
would surely offer the strangest psychological
phenomena Brought within the focus of
exact personal observation, submitted to the
test of ordinary moral standards, compared
with the results of everyday experience, with
out doubt such a character would appear
paradoxical, isolated, extravagant to the last
degree. That any individual can so subordi-
nate the manifold interests and the perplexing
duties of life to an overwhelming passion for
lndiscriminate homage seems incredible and
yet such passion, and the qualification of it,
are by no means uncommon facts in social
history. The most trifling looks, words, and
actions of such persons have reference to the
qualification of others; and as it is impossible
to go on systematically gratifying
several people at once, their triumphs,
however splendid, are very dear
ly won. Humanity is my game, Mr.
Disraeli makes the motto of one of his heroes.
1t would be difficult to find one more mis-
chievous, since the application of it is easy,
and the result palpable Make humanity your
game, and whatever your moral and intelec-
tual shortcomings may be, by dint of patience,
self-devotion, and undertaking resolve, you
are sure to run it down. Perhaps the attrac-
ton to be most safely affiliated to it's proper
source is that of contrast. Civilization has
not so assimilated us but we may meet to-
morrow some man or woman wholly unlike any
one we have known, read of or imagined before;
ard the mind is more affected by such a
discovery than by the most perfect realization
OF preconceived gifts and qualities however
exalted. A case in point is the way in which
woman of genius, who has emancipated
herself from the trammel5 of conventional
life, leads and impresses other women, if she
hkes-for there must be some voluntary exer-
else of this or any other power Enthusiasm
is seldom more fervid, devotion seldom more
intense, than is felt by those of her sex who
voluntarily sit at her feet, and as voluntarily
they will give up the enticements of fashion
able life and other social advantages to retain
the privilege. No more pathetic chapter could
be written of work on psychology than one
which should treat of the infatuation of women
for women, always delighted to begin with,
but not unfrequently ending in painful pro-
cess of disenchantment. On all infatuation
must disenchantment at some time or other
wait. Few, nevertheless, would not rather
WOO the beautiful princess of the Morse tale,
who lived on the glass hill as smooth and slip
perry as ice, even at the risk of falls and
bruises, than never enter fairy-land at all. 1t
is easy for those to sneer at the so-called VIC
Tins of personal fascination whose very pas
sions are subordinated to routine, but if they
do not know the bitterness of reaction, nei-
ther do they comprehend those mysterious
and unexpected raptures with which are
heralded the kindred soul and the spirit that
so wecomely dominates our own.
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