After the sting of defeat has worn off, and the elation of victory has melted away, it is found that the country is moving along about as usual - not going to the dogs because some man is defeated, nor taking great leaps forward because some other man has been elected Town Supervisor, or President, as the case may be. The people play their parts year after year - that is the majority of them - being swayed by emotional excitement rather than by reason, thought, or intelligence. And the men who pull the mental strings grin to themselves as they think over "what fools these mortals be," and prepare themselves to pull the same strings again upon the next occasion, and to make their sheep-like followers again dance to the tune of "My party, right or wrong, my party."

And in both revival and political campaign the moving spirit is the same. Our old friend, personal magnetism, operates through the force of a few "feelings" conveyed from the minds of the few to the minds of the many, aided and abetted in its subtle influence by its mate, mental suggestion. Gaining force under the force of the desire and will of each person who adds his force to the original impulse it swells in volume until, like the rolling snowballs, it grows to mammoth proportions and sweeps all before it.

You have often heard that "enthusiasm is infectious." Did you ever wonder why? Have you ever wondered why you enjoyed a theatrical performance more when the house was filled than when only half its seating capacity was used? Have you ever understood the cause of the wave of enthusiasm that has swept over the large audience, including yourself, until you felt all in a mental glow? Have you ever realized that what is known as "the psychology of the crowd," by which term is meant the influence that can be gained over a crowd, whereas the separate individuals composing the crowd could not be so affected, is due to personal magnetism and mental suggestion which is started into operation and then spread from mind to mind by the added desire and will manifested in mental states and their associated physical actions?

And there is another fact to be remembered while we are considering audiences and crowds. I allude to the fact that the speaker is affected by the personal magnetism of the audience, which flows back upon him, giving him increased power to send again to them his own ideas, awakening fresh emotional excitement in them. It is action and reaction always.

It is of the greatest importance that one understands the causes of these "mental epidemics," for when the cause is once understood one is far less liable to be carried away by emotional excitement spread in this way. Many sober, sensible people have been swept off their feet by these waves of personal magnetism, and have done and said things that would otherwise have been impossible for them. They have allowed the personal magnetism to reach their minds through the emotive-pole, arousing ideas and desires that otherwise would have been impossible.

We have seen, or heard, of respectable citizens, including the members of the so-called learned professions, lawyers, doctors, teachers, preachers, joining in mobs and allowing themselves to be carried away by the personal magnetism and suggestion of the more excitable members thereof, and participating in acts that afterwards seemed like horrible nightmares to them. The emotional nature is always very near the surface, in the majority of men, and it should be ever guarded from outside arousing influences. The motive-pole of the mind - the willpower,-should ever be on guard to resist this invasion of the emotive pole - desire-force. And so should the will ever be on guard to neutralize the personal magnetism of others who in personal interviews seek to bend the minds of their hearers to their ideas, and by thus arousing desire mould them so as to work their wills upon them.

In all of these cases of personal magnetism, and mental suggestion whether along the lines of personal influencing, appeals, artful suggestion, etc., as well as in the cases of "mental epidemic," the effect is produced by the mentator, or suggestor, obtaining the voluntary attention of the other or others, and thus holding his will engaged, and his emotive pole of mind thus unguarded, while he pours in his mentative currents, or suggestions (usually both) into the emotive pole of his hearers. He thus induces in them the desires, emotions and feelings which act as motive forces, causing them to act according to his wishes and will.

The person affected is rendered unable to reason correctly, or intelligently, for his will is "on a vacation," and his reason is swayed by his desires, emotions and feelings thus induced, the necessary support of the will being lacking. The will of the man sending the mentative currents, or mental suggestions, is in control, instead of the wills of the hearers and persons influenced. In the cases of widespread "mental contagion" the influence spreads from mind to mind ,along the same lines, and according to the same laws.

I trust that what I have said along these lines will appeal to the student in the direction of causing him to interpose a resistance to these currents and suggestions in cases such as I have mentioned. The remedy is in his own hands - simply the interposition of the will, in the manner of which I shall speak as we proceed. Surround yourself with an armor of will-power which will act as a shield against influences of this sort, and which will beat them back upon their senders. If people but understood this law they would cause these selfish mentative currents to be reflected back upon the sender until he was swept away in the whirlwind of his own raising.

It is apparent to all students of human nature that there is a wonderful difference in the degrees of what is called "personal force" observable in different persons with whom we come in contact. Some are very "forceful," and others are quite "forceless," and others form varying degrees between these two extremes. This difference in "personal force" depends upon the degree of dynamic "positivity" or negativity" in the "magnetism" of each person.