READERS and students of the lessons that are now being brought to a close will wonder at the line of training which is thus unfolded. They will, in almost nine cases out of ten, have come into this work with the expectation of finding some weird and fantastic exercises whereby they are to acquire power in a subtle manner and use it in the dark of some other persons' minds in order to gain an uncanny control.

There is room for all this mystery in the coming lessons, for magnetism has many surprises, and its pranks are often­times as startling as are the doings of lightning. Human electricity is part of the greater fund of electrical vitality that abounds everywhere in nature, and its workings are amazing when the conditions permit. We can therefore say to the reader who expects strange processes and results, that they will be considered in their place in this study.

But the power behind the throne in the magnetic world is the mind of the universe. It is the power of rule, of order, of law abiding forces, of natural principles at work in all expressions of life, and of purpose to attain a goal worth achieving. It is not the power of hap-hazard existence, of habits that run to weeds, or of a selfish disregard for the blessings that are full to overflowing on every hand.

Every human life is like a garden, in which flowers and useful things may grow. No such garden is free from weeds and enemies. In it are seen powers at work, both in the good and bad. It seems only human to err and to encourage the weeds; for many a fair light goes out in the darkness of bad habits.

While a typical human being could not be expected to master self to the extent of eradicating all the weeds we have mentioned, the mastery of a few of them will mean much to the ambitious man or woman. It is not difficult to give attention to these growing faults; if you fail to heed them some one else will remind you of them in a manner that is unpleasant, and you will see yourself in part as we are trying to mirror yourself in whole now.

These enemies stand in the way of your success.

Personal magnetism is never invited where respect cannot come, and if you fail to command the respect of those whom you would influence, you must fail in all other efforts. You must also please rather than displease those who respect you. Your methods and manners must not irritate them.

Now look at the first of enemies, those that are included in the term restlessness; you see how annoying to you is the child that squirms and moves about constantly; and how could you hope to win respect or please when you are the source of irritation to the people about you?

The next class of enemies is what are called the common ones, such as awkwardness, embarrassment, strained positions, relaxed positions, and conditions that sap your vitality while they cost you the good opinions of those who see you. The very fact that you read what has been said about these faults in this book, will cause you to abandon the worst of them without any training whatever. Your good sense will begin the work of eliminating them, for you will recognize their presence without assistance. An ambitious person needs to be told but once the direct way to success. Actual training is not requisite. Knowledge sometimes is power.

The weeds known as the petty physical enemies are those that are clearly proved to be barriers to the cultivation of personal magnetism. If they are obstacles they should be removed. Even so common a fault as the nervous way of using a type-writer, can be corrected by adopting the smooth action of the fingers. It is an agreeable change from a bad method to a good one.

The weeds mentioned in the next class are those that af­fect the health They are discussed, and remedies stated, not for the purpose of bringing our students into a condition of good health, but solely because these hygienic faults stand in the way of the cultivation of personal magnetism. If it shall turn out, as has been predicted by advance readers of this edition, that the scope of the work outlined is great enough to include all phases of life, then the blessings of the study will be far reaching. We hope that all our students will be­come types of a grander physical, mental and ethical exis­tence than has yet appeared as the product of modern civili­zation.

In the class of weeds that are called petty mental habits, we may seem to be preaching a moral code. There is no moral suggestion in the lesson referred to. We cover two points only; one the habit of worrying at trifles, a habit that saps vitality; and the other the practice of using the mind lazily as most people use the body who are not compelled to hard activities. Surface thinkers are the only non-progres­sive people in the world; they never get on and never will. Personal magnetism is in its very essence intensely progres­sive. Surface thinking is therefore one of its most danger­ous enemies.

Every lesson thus far taught in this course is of the highest importance, and not a word should be regarded as useless or superfluous. A wide awake student will not need a critic to watch and correct his faults. Let him read and then re-read the suggestions made, and his life will gradually shape itself so as to overcome the faults. A change for the better will begin at once. Thus we see that there is very little training in the line of drill, in these early steps.

We advise the constant repetition of the pages preced­ing; that is, let the student peruse them twice in the start, and then review them once a month for a year or more, to see if he has overcome most of the faults noted. This review cannot take more than an hour or two; an amount of time that is wasted every day.

Where the soil is rich, the removal of weeds alone will set the good things to growing. Let any individual drive out the weeds of character or of habit, and something valuable will appear in their place. Under this well established theory, we might stop these lessons here and now, for the gain of better qualities would be apparent in your life. A long distance will have been traveled when you are the master of the enemies that stand as barriers to your progress.

Of all the enemies to guard against, Unsteadiness, is the most serious wasting agent of magnetic force known. Persons who are said to have unsteady nerves, or those who cannot perfectly control every motion of the body, even in the most delicate undertakings, are the greatest leakers of magnetic force. It is oozing out every moment of their waking hours and nearly all the time during sleep. From sunrise to sunset, leak, leak, leak!

A principle of great importance is involved here. The proposition is this:

1. The principle of life generates magnetic force in nor­mal quantities.

2. Internal Energy generates it in great quantities, and super-charges the nerves and brain.

3. Persons of normal self-control use it only as fast as it is generated.

4. Persons who leak, or leakers, waste it much faster than it generates, and this causes temporary exhaustion or very tired feelings; and every unusual exertion in business, or in thinking, causes great weariness. Such persons are unfitted for great undertakings in life, while this leak is go­ing on. They attribute it to ill-health and swallow bottles of medicine, when no medicine will reach the difficulty.

5. Internal Energy supplies the magnetic force as fast as it can possibly be used.

6. Leakers have no Internal Energy, and consequently cannot supply the waste.

7. All persons are leakers (unless trained).

8. Leakers must, therefore, check the waste; which has been the work of this step in our study.

9. They then have normal self-control.

10. The next step will be to develop Magnetic Energy. When this is accomplished, the final process is to acquire the permanent use of it. While all these processes are going on the pupil is growing healthier, heartier, more manly and more womanly in a physical sense; the nerves and brains are reach­ing a state of vigor that can be attained in no other way; and existence at once assumes a loftier bearing suggestive of the old time belief that humanity has kinship with the angels.

The work thus far is not difficult, nor will it consume time or attention to the detriment of other duties. The prog­ress to be achieved will keep pace with the regular work and thought of the day, and not intrude upon them. A man may take a smile to his office or his toil, and it will accompany him in his round of duties; not displace them. The common query is, how much time must be devoted to the practice of the lessons in personal magnetism, and the answer is in the form of another question, how much time will be required to do the same thing correctly that you are now doing wrong, as for instance to walk or stand with the weight on the vital part of the foot instead of carrying it on the heel. The sub­stitution of one way for another does not take time; it calls for attention at the start.

We therefore conclude that no extra time is to be de­manded by the lessons thus far given.

Having finished this part of our study, we are now ready to enter into the affirmative accumulation of the fund of power from which personal magnetism is developed. With the enemies out of the way or reduced, the work of forging ahead into new fields of discovery and accomplishment will be surprisingly fast. Direct training is now at hand. The gradual unfolding of the latent energies of the body and mind will be as marked and pleasing, as is the life that is founded upon power attained by inheritance or gift.

The wonderful sea or ocean of communication that surrounds all human beings, is worth the cost of time and effort required to thoroughly investigate it. Its waves beat now upon your unconscious brain: let us learn to recognize them, to interpret them and to set our influence at sail upon their unbeaten tracks. In so doing we shall learn what mind and soul are, what God is, and what place each one of us occu­pies in the plan of earthly existence.

With power of magnetism, there comes a clear light that breaks into the windowless haunts of others' minds, that shows defects and flaws in the plans and purposes of our fel­low beings, and gives the power and the right to uplift and ennoble the lives that drift in weakness through a stormtossed gulf.

While mystery and fascination both play upon the imag­ination, the new world of fact will resolve every grade of influence into fixed currents of energy that obey a system of laws ordained for the benefit of humanity.

We are now ready to enter the fields described.

END OF THE second step