n
together, I was smiling to myself. He certainly did look and talk like a
President. He was of the average height, of the average build, and of a
sort of average facial mold; he had hair that was a compromise among the
average shades of brown, gray, and black, with a bald spot just where
most men have it.

His pose--I saw that Carlotta was shrewdly right. He was acutely
self-conscious, and was acting his pose every instant. He had selected
it early in life; he would wear it, even in his nightshirt, until death.
He said nothing brilliant, but neither did he say anything that would
not have been generally regarded as sound and sensible. His impressive
manner of delivering his words made one overvalue the freight they
carried. But I soon found, for I studied him with increasing interest,
thanks to my new point of view upon him,--I soon found that he had one
quality the reverse of commonplace. He had magnetism.

Whenever a new candidate was proposed for Mazarin's service, he used to
ask, first of all, "Has he luck?" My first question has been, "Has he
magnetism?" and I think mine is the better measure. Such of one's luck
as is not the blundering blindness of one's opponents is usually the
result of one's magnetism. However, it is about the most dangerous of
the free gifts of nature,--which are all dangerous. Burbank's merit lay
in his discreet use of it. It compelled men to center upon him; he
turned this to his advantage by making them feel, not how he shone, but
how they shone. They went away liking him because they had new reasons
for being in love with themselves.

I found only two serious weaknesses. The first was that he lacked the
moral courage boldly to do either right or wrong. That explained why, in
spite of his talents for impressing people both privately and from the
platform, he was at the end of his political career. The second weakness
was that he was ashamed of his very obscure and humble origin. He knew
that his being "wholly self-made" was a matchless political asset, and
he used it accordingly. But he looked on it somewhat as the beggar looks
on the deformity he exhibits to get alms.

Neither weakness made him less valuable to my purpose,--the first one,
if anything, increased his value. I wanted an instrument that was
capable, but strong only when I used it.

I wanted a man suitable for development first into governor of my state,
and then into a President. I could not have got the presidency for