Page:Randolph, Paschal Beverly; Eulis! the history of love.djvu/78

Rh noble from ignoble souls. Nor does this magnetism depend at all upon size of brain, or mere physique; for it abounds as much among the small people, intuitiveintuitively [sic] and physically weak, as it does among those who are materially opposite in construction. Hence a man or woman of this sort, if the partner be loved, will be able to parent offspring every way perfect, and, physically speaking, better than themselves. There is but little danger of such persons going to the bad, because all their natural tendencies are upward and advancive, not retrogressive, barbaric, or descensive; for their soul-magnetism charges their physical, and it is full of life, energy, emotion and goodness; hence, whoever comes within the area of its action is benefited, not injured; and this is an imperative, universal rule.

XXXIV. But there is another, and to some extent, more powerful magnetism than this. And I may here remark that it is a generally conceded fact that illegitimate children are nearly always smartest, as compared with the fruits of honest marriage; but are they the best? Doubted, as a general thing. They are smarter, fuller of nerve, dash, élan, because struck into being at passion's highest tide; but their moral natures and principles are almost universally, wofully deficient; and of all the famous bastards of history not one was ever noted for goodness! True, they all have a very large measure of personal magnetism, and mental force; but let it never be forgotten that goodness alone is absolute power, and, therefore, the best is always greatest, even though the good man make less show than the more volatile and estimably gifted son of earth; wherefore, he who would beget the noblest sons and daughters must do so under the dominance of a calm and steady love, within the pales of those barriers which society has erected to protect itself from barbaric savage principles and peoples, individual as well as aggregative.

XXXV. There is another sort of magnetism, rich, full, voluptuous, Websterian, which originates in body, not in soul; and it flows in copious streams from the persons of such as have it, suffusing everything and everybody with its warm and vivifying power. It is charged with passion, enthusiasm, volcanic fire; and while it warms