Year: 1871

BY wSI. AIKMAN, D. d.


DID you ever stop to explain the effect
which the mere presence of some persons
has upon you? They may not speak
word, scarcely give you look, yet they
influence you. You feel them without
either touch or sign.


There are persons whom you speak of
as having chilling manner, which at
once repels you. The coming of such a
one into circle where moment ago all
was cordial sympathy and pleasure, is like
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 other
way than by saying, it is sunny. They
carry with them an air of health and joyous
ness. Their step in the house makes the
children smile and the circle grow full of
talk; it is, even in the sick chamber, like
a breeze of spring; you cannot tell
why; you only kSi0o that the place is
brighter for there being there.


This effect of mere air and manner goes
much farther than the emotions and spirits
of those who feel it; 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 perpetuslly
a recipient of it That infant may be
catching hour by hour the disposition and
Charac,+, 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 oui SSatngs OF thought
and feeling from that bosom, and the llttle
~, ort lfh
fretfulness or petulsnce 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 ere formed
more by these silent influences than by
words and precepts. Indeed, in multi
tude of cases these latter are wholly over
borne by the former; the direct apd an
nounced teachings are in ono dlrecnon,
the secret but mighty overf1owlng are IN
another. Arctic navigators drifting
nortLward sometimes see huge iceberg
crashing its way southwark through ice
fields-the unseen under-current has
mightier hold on its mass than the SUI
face drift.


You may call it what you will or you
may be unable to name it at all, yet there
are few VINO are not cogniZant OF the In
fiuence the simple presence OF certain per-
| sons have upon them. Women know 1t,
though they may not be able to explain 1t.
| The quick instinct of a womanl how keen
| - ;o 20 n oh n
| it simply by this unseen outfiowing of the
soUli Perhaps it is because the nature of
a true woman is more keenly sensitive
than mans. A needle floating delicately
on the waters surface feels the faintest ap-
proach of a magnet.


Laura Bridgeman, the deaf, blind, and
dumb girl, was very striking illustration
of this recognition of unintended influ-
ence. Before she was taught selt-restra1nt,
and had learned to guard her demonstra-
ton of feeling, she would show, on the
moment 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
endeayor TO pass her own hand caressing-
ly over the arm and cheek of its possessor.
Deprived of the ordinary means of knowl-
edge, her abnormal sensitiveness actually
felt the emanations of the strangers life
and character.


But extreme instances Deed not be cited
All persons are more or less affected by
this occult power. One man makes you
easy, another disturbs you merely by his
presence, and you may not be able In
either case to explain the reason; and
what we feel as flowing out from Other
men is perpetually streaming out of our
selves.


Every man carries with him power
which he cannot but exert. He cannot sc
shut his soul within his body that it may
not go forth. Take altar of roses and fold


your hands tightly as you may, will nc


perfume go forth? The words of the ole


Book are true, Ointment in the hant


betrayeth itself" The aroma of YOU


moral life will go out. You may guarc


your lips, you may shape with minutes


care your acts, but your inner life Will g


out and some one will be touched anG
shaped by it.


Here is a new and intense feeling give1
to every mans life 1t is not in mos
cases so much Whist he does or what h


saws that makes his infuence-it is wha
he is. That which is within he cannot b.
all his power keep from going forth. H
cannot help it if he would. 1t streams ou
from him like the unseen magnetism tina
: it is.
Every man is perpetually at work, no
J only in hours when he purposely put
forth his powers, but when most OF all b
} is thoughtless of it. Indeed, the thought
> less hour NAV be the hour of most LASTING
E power, since it gives the truest reyelahol
} and throws out the most subtitle influence
, Responsibility goes farther than mos
: men imagine. 1t does not end with WORD
and acts. He is responsible for what
: within, since that will inevitably go fort


for good or i'll.


That unintended power is often the tru


est influence of the man, as it is IN


mightiest. 1t may be the reverse of wha
he wishes it to be. His words, his aci
u may be in one direction, while the init
! ence of his inner self stretches cut /
q another. Many parent liUes doScn all h
. most carefully inculcated lessons. 81
: silent life is mightier than his spoke
\ words.


What we want is to be right Within
9 9 PhTenologicdl Journal


D PUNCH gives the following as case


4 -.