HAVING ACHIEVED THE FIRST VICTORY by the resolute determination to put an end to leakage and restlessness, it will be possible now to take up the affirmative lines of practice in substituting repose or power in place of loss of energy. Examples are always helpful in acquiring an understanding of the meaning of a great proposition. These examples are seen in everyday life about us. First let us recall a case in court where we witnessed the conduct of two opposing counsel.

1. One was active, full of life and movements, "smart," as they termed it. He got excited when he became earnest. He tired his listeners and beholders.

2. The other was calm and solid as a fixed rock. Not one waste motion escaped him. When he spoke his voice was full of a pleasant vigor and accumulated feeling that held all listeners spellbound. He commanded respect. When he became earnest his calmness was so intense that it seemed a disappointment that he should stop at all. He was never fidgety, never got excited, never hitched and halted in his words. He won the case. Such people are rare. How we respect a lady or gentleman who can show such self-control!

This brings us to the consideration of dead-stillness in the presence of others. The quiescent condition is not magnetic stillness; it is always rest or stupidity, never repose. That is, it is not called repose even if it is absolutely still or dead. There must be the magnetic life of the live engine, with the calmness of conscious strength; the power of the full developed energy without waste of force. When you have such vitality, not physical, but nervous, then you are ready to put dead-stillness to practical usefulness. Look at some examples of it.

Standing before a vast mob that threatens to demolish a great city with the growing vengeance, a nervous man calls, shouts and gesticulates, all in vain. His wild antics exhaust themselves Upon deaf ears. Another man, his eye fixed with earnestness steps forward upon a balcony, looks calmly into the heart of the assemblage, never moves a line of his face, raises his hand for attention, and stands like a statue while the fixed gaze holds the eyes of all the multitude. He makes no sign, expresses no appeal with voice or glance; shows no mark of anxiety on his face, does nothing to ask for silence, and there he stands a volcano of pent-up energy under absolute control; and it is true that his perfect stillness gives him his magnetism. The attitude tells the complete story of the situation; a man of heroic purpose determined to become the master of that mob.

This is life. It is also an actual incident. It tells the story of life. What good would shouting do? What would be the use of frantic appeals, prayers, entreaties, threats, stormy passion or plaintive coaxing? How many persons would have thrown themselves into a paroxysm of action, from the sternest command to the most intense soliciting, in the effort to still the mob? Yet there was but one kind of person who could succeed in the attempt, and that was the dead-still individual; one who could gaze calmly into the angry faces and assert his superior power. One by one they looked upon him and came to recognize his god-like bearing; their voices were lost in their eyes; a feeling of approaching silence began to travel across the crowd; it deepened; the man stood like a rock, yet alive to the highest degree; the shouts died away; all was as quiet as the grave; and in the hush of that solemn stillness his every word was heard and absorbed One man had mastered many thousands.

A well-known business man of great coolness and magnetism, took his accounts home one night for the purpose of looking over them. He had a sum of money with him, of which a desperado had knowledge. It was the hour of midnight; stormy without, and lonely within. The man sat at his desk writing, and thought he heard the sound of steps in the adjoining room which was dark, although the door stood open. He was a man of magnetism as we have said. One of the essentials of magnetism is coolness; coolness to an extraordinary degree. The person who gets excited, who shows fear, who trembles, who quails before anything, is to that extent lacking in this power. Coolness can be acquired. We have had letters from nervous persons who have said they were incapable of becoming cool; andyet they conquered the fault as soon as they began to develop magnetism. Prom the very fact that nervous motions causea rapid loss of vitality by throwing off the energy of the body, it could at once be seen that the absence of coolness would amount to a loss of control over another person. The man referred to was of the combination required to cope with the burglar. The following conversation is substantially that which took place: "Come in."

The burglar resolved to kill the merchant if he resisted; and, although he was surprised at the announcement, he entered the room, leveled a revolver at the head of his victim, approached him and said: "I've got you." "Eh?"

"I've got you." "Sit down."

"No, I won't. I'm here for business. I've got you." "Eh?"

"You're mine. Now give up."

"Isn't your language a little peculiar for a professional burglar?"

"Well, that's my lookout. Give me that money or you're a dead one."

"The money is all right. I give lots of money away without being asked for it. I don't mind the money. I have plenty for my own use and to give away. I don't like the tone of your voice." "That's all right. Be quick now. I'm here to do a clean job." "What will you do?" "I'll kill you if you move."

"What good would it do you to kill me? You would hang for it."

"Hang nothing."

By this time the merchant, who had kept his eyes fixed on the burglar, found a slight evidence of quailing in the latter. From that moment he was sure of the result.

"You will certainly be hung. Do you see that button?"

"Yes."

"Do you hear the sound below?"

"Officers?"

"Give me your revolver."

The man is now serving a term in the penitentiary.

Coolness with magnetism are sure to conquer all things; and these two qualities belong together. The more of one you get the more of the other will follow, provided the coolness is not of the blase, cold-blooded type of stupidity. Remember that the engine must be alive with power.

A minister stands in the pulpit delivering his sermon. He is languid, gentle, quiet, cool, collected, effeminate, weak and yet free from nervousness. He lacks the energy of a thoroughlylive man. There are no fires in the engine; hence the quietude of the body.

Another minister stands in the pulpit delivering his sermon. He has vitality enough, but it leaks out at all sides. His head beats the emphasis of his ideas just as nearly all readers' and speakers' heads do. His eyes are unsteady, looking in every direction without power of expression. He steps about, shifting his weight every minute or two, now advancing, now retiring, now going across to the right or the left, and never standing still very long at a time. He brings the upper half of his body forward and bends to give emphasis to a supposedly strong idea, doing this several times a minute. He gestures in every sort of way, but contents himself to do finger movements in the absence of the full-arm action whenever the thought is not weighty enough to admit of gesticulation. Soon he has exhausted all that stock of energy that would have gone to produce magnetism, and he now finds that he must make up in the physical what he lacks in the magnetic, and he shouts and pounds.

Another minister, the rare kind, the individual with the greatest degree of honesty because he has the conscience to equip himself for his profession, stands in his pulpit delivering his sermon. He is cool, not because he is weak, but because he knows that great truths require all the power n man possessesto give them full weight of utterance. He stands still. When then is cause for action of the whole body he steps forward with a single movement as a stately ship might swing from her moorings, not as a fidgety orator might jog about over the platform. His head is not bobbing up and down, right and left, to the rhythm of his words, as is so commonly the case with speakers. He keeps his headerect upon his shoulders, strong, powerful, energetic, but in perfect repose. This is what excites the admiration of the congregation.

Few men and few women carry their heads in magnetic poise.

When weak it falls forward, or is inclined to the right or left, or is tilted back; while the person of magnetism is of easier and yetmore solid poise. There is no setness, no stiffness about the neck; but there is firmness and certainty of carriage that denotes the presence of power. To be still does not require that one be stiff; the stillness of death holds that quality. We wish the stillness of life. When the ordinary person is told to straighten up, to remove the lines of weakness, he has no other recourse thanto the lines of hardness, and the latter is worse than the former. Magnetism steers us clear of these extremes.

The third minister of whom we spoke was magnetic. He had cultivated the body and all its faculties. He knew the value of repose, of dead-stillness, as he stood before his audience. The vitality that another might have thrown away in useless action he kept in storage to be dealt out as he chose. His gestures were inclined to assume the character of attitudes, for he presented as much versatility in his physical portrayal of his thoughts as did any of his brother preachers; but he preferred the gesture of the outstretched arm and expressive position of the hand rather than the swinging motion so common to others. Why is it that nearly all speakers believe that motion expresses more than attitude? Does the blow dealt by the hand hit anybody in a gesture; and, if not, why are the uplifted arm and clinched fist not more expressive of the meaning of a blow? The speaker seeks to illustrate his thought. He cannot reproduce life by acting its details. He cannot fire a gun when he tells of a killing. Repose in the attitude of description is always more effective and far more beautiful than action that never comes to a position of meaning.

A lawyer who holds mastery over himself at once wins respect He does not fly up out of his chair to force his objection upon the judge. If the interests of his client demand that he make objection he can always be heard, and the more dignified he is the more likely he will be to get a full hearing. Judges admire cool, self-possessed lawyers; they dislike the active, nervous fellows who try to carry everything before them as by storm The cool lawyer is most powerful in handling witnesses, for he thinks more rapidly and carries more trains of thoughts than the excitable lawyer.

The habit of walking to and fro while speaking, is the result of nervousness, and is very taxing on the vitality. It occurs before juries and before audiences generally. Some men walk up and down before a jury, striding from place to place as though the action were impelled by a special degree of interest; but if you will take notice of the successful, the brainy, the magnetic lawyers, and orators generally, you will find them keeping closer to a given spot. It is true that action arouses latent magnetism but when it is aroused, it should not be wasted and thrown away wantonly.

There is no more interesting study of human nature than that which is devoted to watching people about you, and seeking to apply some of the laws of life to their habits and methods of handling themselves.

A new phase of the study of personal magnetism is called the Comparative System. It is employed by those who wish to make the greatest progress in the least amount of time and with the least effort. It has been used with great success by a number of keen minded persons, and seems to have been invented by a man of unusual magnetic power for his individual advancement.

The value of the Comparative System is that it requires no time whatever, and no practice. It is simplicity itself. All that is needed is to watch other people, and study their vurious mannerisms and defects of handling themselves; and compare each action and each defect with yourself in the same line. Thus how does such a person sit, stand, walk, talk, move about, exhibit unrest or lack of control, and so on; and what of these defects if any, or merits, if any, do you possess, comparing each and every detail?