South-eastern Independent. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1871-1871, 1871-09-08
Unattended Influence.
BY wM. AIKMAN, D. D.

BY wM. AIKMAN, D. D.
DID you ever stop to explain the effec
which the mere presence of some person
has upon you? They may not speak
word, scarcely give you look, yet the,
influence you. You feel tham Withou
either touch or sign.
There are persons whom you speak o
as having a chilling manner, which a
once repels you. The coming of such
one into circle where moment ago al
was cordial sympathy and pleasure, is lik,
the floating of an iceberg into the tropics
the air becomes hyperborean where sum
mer was reigning.
so there are those whose personal pres
ence you can well describe in no othel
way than by saying, it is sunny. They
carry with them an air of healthand Joyous
ness. Their step in the house makes the
children smile and the circle grow full o.
talk; it is, even in the sick chamber, like
a breeze of spring; you cannot tel
why; you only kn0o that the place i:
brighter for there being there.
This effect of mere air and manner goes
much farther than the emotions and spirits
of those who feelit; it has bearing upon
character and shapes life. No one can
tell how early it is felt and how last.
ing are its results. The infant in its
mothers or its nurses arms is perpetually
recipient of it That infant may be
catching hour by hour the disposition and
character of her upon whose bosom he is
held. 1t is not material food only that he
draws from the mothers breast-pOwer is
emanating in word and manner, nay, in
the subtitle unnamed outgoings of thought
and feeling from that bosom, and the little
one makes them part of his life. The
fretfulness or petulance of the mother is
seen to reproduce itself in the child.
Many mother who has been impatient
and perhaps angry at her infant because it
was "cross perhaps, were she willing,
might find the cause of it all in her own
disposition. How could he catch sunshine
out of cloud? How could he gather
material for smiles out of the perturbed
place where he had been nesting?
1t is most probable that the character
and disposition Of children are formed
more by these silent influences than by
words and precepts. Indeed, in a multi
tude of cases these latter are wholly over
borne by the former; the direct and an
nounced teachings are in one direction,
the secret but mighty oyerfowing are in
another. Arctic navigators drifting
northward sometimes see a huge iceberg
Crushing its way southwark through ice
helds-the unseen under-current has a
mlghtier hold on its mass than the sur
face drift.
You may call it what you will or you
may be unable to mamie it at all, yet there
are few who are not cogniZant of the in
fiuence the simple presence of certain per
sons have upon them. Women know it,
fhnr1nb fhaxr ho oI, 10 20 axr,Iofy, -
The quick instinct of woman how keen
it is to discern character, and to recognize
it simply by this unseen outflowing OF the
soull Perhaps it is because the nature of
q true woman is more keenly sensitive
than mans. A needle floating delicately
on the waters surface feels the faintest ap-
proach of magnet.
Laura Bridgeman, the deaf, blind, and
dumb girl, was very striking illustration
of this recognition of unintended infu-
ence. Before she was taught self-restraint,
and had learned to guard her demonstra- |
ton of feeling, she would show, on the |
of introduction, the most oppo- |
site emotions toward those who approach |
ed her. On taking the hand of one per- |
son she would at once dash it from her |
and turn away with every expression of |
annoyance or, possibly, disgust; while |
touching the hand of another, she would |
endeavor to pass her own hand caressing- |
y over the arm and cheek of its possessor.
Deprived of the ordinary means of knowl-
edge, her abnormal sensitiveness actually
elt the emanations of the strangers life
md character.
But extreme instances need not be cited.
ALL persons are more or less affected by
his occult power. One man makes you
easy, another disturbs you merely by his
presence, and you may not be able in
,ither case to explain the reason; and
What we feel as flowing out from other
men is perpetually streaming out of our
elves
Every man carries with him q power
which he cannot but exert. He cannot so
hut his soul within his body that il may
lot go forth. Take altar of roses and fold
Tour hands tightly as you may, will no
,erfume go forth? The words of the old
Book are true, Continent in the hand
itself" The aroma of your
moral life will go out YOU may guard
our lips, you may shape with minutest
are your acts, but your inner life will 90
ut and some one will be touched and
haped by it.
Here is a new and intense feeling given
D every mans life. 1t is not in most
ases so much what he does or what he
avs that makes his infiuence-it is what
e is That which is within he cannot by
Il his power keep from going forth. He
annot help it if he would. 1t streams out
tom him like the unseen magnetism that
is.
Every man is perpetually at work, not
My in hours when he purposely puts
,rth his powers, but when most of all he
thoughtless of it, Indeed, the thought
IS hour may be the hour of most lasting
over, since it gives the truest revelation
nd throws out the most subtitle influence
Responsibility goes farther than most
len imagine. It does not end with words !
nd acts. He is responsible for what is
ithin, since that will inevitably go forth
II good or ILL 80. - -.r
That unintended power is often the tru- :
1T influence of the man, as it is the !
Iightiest. 1t may be the reverse of what :
e wishes it to be. His words, his acts /
ay be in one direction, while the infiu- :
ice of his inner self stretches out in !
lother. Many parent LiUes dO1n all his :
ost carefully inculcated lessons. His :
lent life is mightier than his spoken !
ords. :
What we want is to be right within r
Journal