See yonder peaceful cottage, nestling by the hillside; hope and
contentment dwell therein; within its walls beauty and grace awaken
harmony. Lured by the bright sunshine, a stranger enters the door. He
sits and chats awhile with the inmates. His talk is pleasant, and as he
converses a cloud falls upon the house, the sunshine becomes darkened,
and the dwellers within the pretty cottage shiver as with cold. They heed
not the change, for the chat of their guest delights them. But when he
departs he leaves behind him a poison more baneful than the plague.

The inmates of the peaceful cottage look with gloomy eyes one upon the
other; they become dissatisfied and distracted among themselves, and
discord takes the place of harmony.

Secret influences are at work, poisons thrown out by the sphere of the
guest. A worse fate befalls them than befell the sailors who were invaded
by the insidious Plague.

I have seen in nature a fair face clouded suddenly--made gloomy and
unlovely--by the unspoken thought of another. Thought is contagious--some
varieties of it poisonous! I have seen the countenance of an innocent
child transformed into ugliness by a poisonous thought. I have seen those
who have looked upon her receive that thought and become likewise
infected.

I have seen also to this picture another and a brighter side. I have seen
secret influences drawing individuals together, sustaining and upholding
them; as the long line filaments of wool clasp each other and draw
together the separate particles, so have I seen individuals united. Thus
was the first Napoleon united to Josephine. A secret influence as potent