Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1910-12-16
THE SECRET OF PERSONALITY.
As Governing the Attractions and Re
puIslons Of Social Life.

There is a profound secret of person
ality. unfathomed and perhaps unfath-
enable in the attractions and repulsions
that often seem to us TO bear a moral
jmport. 1t is often said to child, You
must love Aunt Mary or Uncle Jack
Won must be fond Of your cousin But
suppose the child can't love Aunt Mary
and the others. Is there any moral turpi-
tudc in the regrettable fact? 1t seems
not These things lie beyond the realm
Of volition They are a part Of the sub
stratum of being
No matter what our relationship may
be. relationships that often seem accl-
dental and fortutious, there are some
that bind us as with chains and others
that set us free in a large place. II Is as
natural as it is to breathe that we should
yearn for this joyous expansion. TINS
native air of the soul that liberates such
powers as we possess. instead OF stealing
them in silence and constraint. More
! than we are aware, attractions and re-
| pulsions, the personal equation. unin-
nuenced by education or associations,
/ make the joy ar the misery of life
The ill-sorted are the tragic multitude
/ of whom hundreds of thousands land
/ in the divorce court. They run head
/ long into matrimony, following a will
| o'-the-wisp which fades away after mar
| rage and leaves them strangers If not
/ enemies We deplore the cases where
! repulsion, and not moral delinquency,
/ forces people apart. We praise those
| who endure lifelong martydom with
| the unloved the aggravating, and OBJ
fuse, from a sense of duty. They cannot
escape from the dilemma; If they disre-
| gard one horn, they land on the other.
| We pity, We deplore, we feel the deep
wrong of either case Nature seems
| unkind society and family more so. We
.f..I.N In
| vented to save well-meanlng people
from such entanglements and lifelong
regret? It is wrong to judge the situa-
ton with bitterness, scOrn, and hatred.
1t calls for sincerest pity and something
much deeper than surface snapjudgment
| Can anything be DONE we ask, to save
| people from getting into this desperate
hobble, and in the end involving them
selves in a web of wrong-doing and
hopeless mistakes?
The dream has suggested itself that a
psychological bureau might be establish
ed, to advise young people as TO the
choice, temperamentally and personally
they should mate in matrimony. Young
men and women might go there and get
some hints as to the nature, the charac-
ter and instincts, and preposseSSions of
the mate best suited to render life a
Joy and refreshment, rather than clog
and waste of deadly dulness and mis-
understanding. COulu TINS SYSTEM NC
instituted with the best and wisest peo-
pie to carry it on. it might bring self
revelation and insight to many who now
marry at random, without thought OF
the deeper harmonies of nature that lead
to a continued interest and refreshment
in the double life, instead of an ever
growing sense of disunion and disparity
of tastes and feelings.
When 1t is too late to rectify fata
STEP there is an alien in the household
the intimate, ever-present stranger
, against whom the soul chafes, while ow
ing the obligations of love, obedience
conservation; and thus life is worn
threadbare and mind and soul and hear
dwndle in a vain struggle.
- The people who do us good are thos
10 who do not tire and exhaust but res
n and refresh us. Perhaps this holds near
e ly all of the secret of mind-cure. This /
d a considerable part of the great doctor
influence He brings with him airs fror
heaven. He comes into the sick roor
with health and refreshment, like a Sc
breeze blowing through close place
stagnant with foul breath. He sets tn
windows of the universe open with In
spring vision of health and strength
The spiritual doctor, the clergyman, 1
his own field can bring inspiration I
Il souls by the vitality, the eXuberance, tn
reality of his religious nature. He ma