The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-04-03
THE HIDDEN MAGNETISM
Personal Fascination and Some EX-
amples Of the Power Which
1t Yields.
A Subtle Force and the Part
Which 1t Plays in Daily
Life.

The Unknown and UnexplnInable Forco
That Attracts and Repo,s and Which
Still DeHes Analysis.
From tho London Queen.
Personal magnetism. What is il? Whence
docs it springP In what unexplored region
of the mind or body are its roots to be
found? We understand 1t al a living fact,
but OF its why. its wherefore. and whether
il be an affinity purely spiritual or partly
physical, We know absolutely nothing. Yet
ii exists. and most of US have auccumbed to
its power. Few indeed are ho poor in i'm
agination, go arid in -sympathies, as not to
have become fascinated by some one or
something at one time Of life. And natur-
ally youth is the time most fertile in these
extraordinary ootbursts of self-surrender,
when that n special person ia the center
of the universe for the fascinated soul, the
absolute point of perfection and the flaw
less being who can do no wrong.
Little children vino are in the mental
condition of savaRes, find this strange
property Of fascination in things more than
In persons. To them matter has attributes
which are lost when reason takes the place
Of imagination. A child falls in love with
q bit Of dead material n will not be
parted from it. 1t does not signify what
the thing ia. It may DO q doll or q fur rab-
bit, a ball or q bit of blanket. All who
have to do with children know that this
queer attraction exists in l~ifcless. formless
things as we'll az in those of which 1t would
be moro easy to give that occult grace.
One sturdy fellow who once caught q
small silver fish would not lot the slippery
creature out of his chubby hand till sleep
relaxed his grasp. And then in thu morn
ing. when he found that his .scaly charm
had gone, heaven and earth came together.
and he broke his little heart in bowls.
What did that dead, Shiny. strong-smellinG
charm represent to him? Something quite
out of the power of reason to determine.
It must have filed his callov soul With
some strange suggestion of exquisite
bsauty-some subtle ssnEe OF a far-oh
divinity, for the moment incorporate in
those Shiny, shiny scales. As early %civiliz-
alton goes back for it's gods to beasts and
birds and fishes. 80 children lind their
friends and secret c%onidants. their loves
and mental marvels in their hairy play
mates and festhered oaptives. We are
never 20 near to the lower creatures az
when We are children. We never under
stand them 30 we'll nor love them so much,
for the tie Of Immunity and affection be-
tween a child and a dog. or q child and a cat,
is stronger than any made between an
adult master and a four-foosed follower. or
q becapped old mistress n a furry favor
ite-ons of the little lions. small and
dainty sweet" for which Arsinoe flung
over her old lover and tool "far Travelled
Niciae' instead.
What is it that attracts us in one face and
repels US in another2 We might say the
plain impress of the spirit within If we we're
all attracted by the same person and all re-
PEELED by the same. But as with that
zone mans meat is another mana poison"
30 the face-the person-whom We loathe
another passionately desires, and that
which We desire another az passionately
losthes. The cause lies deeper than this.
1t has its beginnings in some secret source
some strange, undetected science OF which
We have not got the key.
These subtle harmonles and no less subtle
discords have their own 'unsprunR." and
We have to go farther yet into the mysteries
of psyche physiology before We come upon
that we'll concealed original cause: Mag
resting the elephant on the back of the tor
toise-and the tortoise on what? When
We say magnetic" how much nearer to
the absolute cnuse Of this ~hnrmony-this
discord-are we?
We have given a name, but the name
wants its definition, and then that de6nl-
ton must be reduced to its elements; for.
after all. what is this magnetism which
We say We see because We feel? Is it a
chemical affinity or a geometrical har-
mony? And, in any case. how ia it that
one person can f~ascinate many and go
prove an indefinite amount of chemical AZ
tinity or a strangely complex geometrical
arrangement Of atoms?
The power of fascination plays an i'm
portant part in the lives of men and women.
Zoo often the effects are disastrous, though
at times-as in the leaders of large and
righteous movements or of purer spiritual
aspirations-it has been one of the workers
of salvation for the world. Yet for one
man VINO is elevated and made heroic by
the personal fascination of q woman, gay,
thousands are degraded and ruined. The
George Barnwells of life nre moro numer-
GUS than the Orsons. and the Omphales and
Delilahs are more potent to reduce the
strength of heroes than are the women of
heroic mind to strengthen and ennoble
towards. This fascination. TO which we all
more or less at some time or another yield
ourselves, has its terrible side as we'll as its
lovely.
The demon lover of the old poem was
but another true type Of the fatal power
which can be used by q strong mind over a
weak. to the SOULS perditiou and the body's
ruin OF inc one VINO VlelQS. For, indeed,
what is love but fascination in it's higher
sense and to the suplemest degree? II it
were not SO, how should such md such be
loved with all the fervor OF a life? We see
honorable mon fascinated into degradn-
lions by an utterly unworthy woman-a
woman without heart, pity, sentiment or
morality: who more of love than
she does of virtue. Yet she has the power
to attract, keep and ruin strong men and
noble lives. We see, on the other hand,
women of character and position who lose
themselves. body and soul. for some worth.
less vIlgarian who has nothing apparently
TO recommend fim. Hateful to one, he il
fascinating TO another. and the mystery
why remains unsolyed and insoluble.
A wife cliuRs to a drunken, d~issipated
husband not from Il sense Of duty, which il
heroic, but from abject love-the doglike
love of one hopelessly subdued and fascin-
ated to the point which lies beyond self re-
speot. A husband adores n woman who has
not a charm, physical or moral. that ar
outsider can discover-ani SO on through
tho scale OF human emotions. We have thii
power Us a clew to many strange stories il
history which, however. does not advance
US much. But the only practical par
which touches our daily life is the care W,
ought to take as TO the character and nature
of those to whom VIC open our own house
door, for where there are young peopl,
kk,orn will o,ar la tho tAGollss ,,b.oz, A..