e surrounded
with tinted atmospheres,--some green, some blue, some red, or
yellow--in fact, there are more shades and colors than you can
mention. When two reds meet, they mingle; when two harmonious tints
touch, they may form a pleasing combination; but when such enemies as
blue and green come together, they clash--fairly 'swear at one
another,' and the persons enveloped in the opposing atmospheres are
mutually disagreeable. The man who is surrounded by the color capable
of most harmonious combinations is said to have personal magnetism."

May not this explanation, while rather far-fetched, afford some clue
to the causes of personal popularity? And the thought following swift
upon this is: If this be true, how much may each of us have to do with
softening and making capable of harmony his and her own individual
atmosphere? While we cannot change our "colors" (to follow out my
friend's figure) we may shade them down and make them less pronounced,
so that in time they may become capable of a variety of combinations.

Does not Faber touch upon this point, when he says:

"The discord is within which jars
So roughly in life's song;
'Tis we ourselves who are at fault
When others seem so wrong,"

We blame others for being uncongenial When the "discord is within,"
that makes all things go awry. A drunken man sees the whole world go
around, and blames it, for its unsteadiness.

One way to render less obtrusive an inharmonious color, if we possess
such is to keep it out of a strong light that will attract all eyes to
it. Do not let us be proud of our personal defects and peculiarities.
They are subjects for regret, not pride. When a woman boasts that she
"knows she is often impatient, but she simply cannot help it, she is
so peculiarly constituted!" she acknowledges a weakness of which she
should be ashamed. If she is so undisciplined, so untrained, that she
cannot avoid making life uncomfortable for those around her, she would
better stay in a room by herself until she learns self-control. Often
the very eccentricities of character to which we cling so tenaciously
are but forms of vanity. Why should our preferences, our likes or
dislikes be of more account than those of thousands of other people?

Another great mistake we make is that we try the effect of other
colors with our own, and resent it hotly if they do not "go well
together." We do not insist that they shall be like ours in tint, but
they must