THE MAGNETIC WOMAN

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 53, 25 November 1922, Page 16

THE MAGNETIC WOMAN

A LIVING DYNAMO. Why do certain people attract us and others repel us, and why do some allure us for a time and then, for no reason we wot of, cease to fascinate ? We fall back upon the explanation, which is really no explanation, that they are “magnetic.” Yes. But whence comes this magnetism and what is it anyway? We only know that it is a force which radiates from certain people and which acts directly upon those they come across in greater or lesser degree according to their susceptibility It has nothing to do necessarily with n-oodness, or badness, or even beauty, wit or cleverness. It is an unmoral force (writes Alfred Edye in the “Daily Mail”). - There are women who possess tins force in an extraordinary degree. They are living dynamos. For some reason or other they attract everybody with whom they come in contact. Or they mav have this effect upon men alone and he the kind of women of whom it is said they can twist any man round their little'finger. “Beauty,” wrote Pope, draws us with a single hair,” and in the case of exquisitely beautiful women whose loveliness stirs the senses, or on whom 'it is just aesthetic joy to gaze, the explanation is simple enough. But manv magnetic women are no* physically attractive. One of the most magnetic women acting at the present time has few gifts, of face or feature. Yet you “feel” her presence as soon as she comes on the stage and watch and listen to her with delight. That no doubt, is tho compelling force of genius. , But what of those women who, without eood looks, without, breeding, without education, and without special ability, manage to enchant their victims women such as, to take no more recent cases, Mme. Humbert, who contrived to sway the most prominent and brilliant men of Paris ? Bv what spell did she enchant her victims She, as many others, was one of the most extrdordinarv psychical problenis which have ever been presented to the world Most of us as we look back upon our pasts can remember. vividly magnetic women who have influenced us for good or ill. It may be that ve saw them hut seldom, and that they had no real part or lot m our Jives But the fact remains that while others who were nearer and dearer have dwindled away to nothing .these other figures stand out as definite as when we first saw them. The magnetic woman is unforgettable.

Mother was entertaining a, few friends, and the young hopeful was planted in the centre. “Whom do you like best? asked one friend. “Mother.” was the reply "Who next?” asked another. “Little sister ” “Who next?” Father, who was seated at the br.ck opened his mouth and said: “And when do I come in?” "At 2 in the morning, 1 was the reply.

Street Collecting sidelights. There is a lot of human nature encountered in street collecting, and those who do it really do not fall far short of the heroic. Of course, one of the great aids to a collector is the faculty for becoming absolutely impersonal—what happens is merely so much material for disclosing sidelights, pleasant, or otherwise, of the man and woman in the street. There is quite a sporting chance about it, too. You see a woman, for instance, coming along the street. You study the type, and mentally come to your conclusion as to how she will act. Still, you will chance it. "Would you care to contribute to the Soldiers’ Memorial Fund?” you ask, with the collectingbox well in view. A stony stare that almost accuses you of begging for yourself, then an averted face, and a quick march by without a word. Your mental summing up was correct. But there was the other side of the cage. With so many unemployed about there was always the fear of asking any of them to contribute,'and so one tried to discriminate. And it was in just one of these cases that discrimination failed, and to your surprise you are voluntarily; offered a contribution. And then there is the man who very pleasantly tells you Tie has already contributed —that is quite satisfactory—and the man whom you see is mentally buttoning up his pockets—your surmise proves to be quite justified—and the man who tells vou the has given three times already, and vet gives again. That, too, is rather trying, because vou feel horrible comnunctions in taking it. knowing that there n erc many lying in wait. However, it" wa.s for a good cause, and so you take it. More than once, however, in answer to the request, to contribute, the answer came. "I am a returned-soldier myself, and up against it. I can’t get wodk, and I think the living should be helped first.” And what can be/said to that? And then there was the woman whom you surmised must have had a son at the front, and who gave cheerfully—and the younger woman, exceedingly well dressed who looked as though she had been assaulted by an enemy _of the race when asked to give. It is quite interesting. And when it is all done with you realise—if never before—what a precious flower courtesv is, 'and how a smile can make even a refusal a pleasant .'thin"-. And it is a p’tv that women seem least of all to recognise that fact. Hero is a suggestion that was made yesterday. _ "When collection days are being held again, why not suggest that there be two days: One day when the women ask all the men. and tho next day, when the men ask all the women to contribute?” There may be something in it.