This time I go among the audience more rapidly and am not long in locating the object sought. It is often difficult to locate an article at the start. But when it is found, although it may seem a long time to the operator, the audience always greet the act with an applause. There is seldom anything to laugh at in any entertainment of this kind. In fact, most of the people look at it seriously. It awakens a something within them that they have not had stimulated before; that is their innate desire to solve mysteries, to look into the future and to avoid pending evils. It would astonish the reader, perhaps, to know of the superstitions of people. Strange things occur and yet these same people would say that they were not superstitious if reminded about it.

Not long ago I was about to cross State street in Chicago, at its intersection with Washington street. As I stepped out on State street, a funeral was passing northward. Without paying any attention to what I did, I stopped to wait until the funeral passed. It might have been an act of respect and it might have been - superstition. It was involuntary. When I thought of the reason for waiting, I looked at both sides of the street and was surprised to see fully six hundred people at this corner who refused to break through a funeral procession. Even in this great city, where everything is done in a hurry, people had time to wait until the funeral procession passed. No more than fifty people crossed at this corner. Out of the six hundred or so who waited, perhaps not forty really thought why they did it. They had an "ingrown" superstition and their reason was not allowed to argue against it.

So it is with an audience; they have an awakening of their subconscious, they feel that they have powers within themselves and they are put in harmony with nature at once.' Therefore, an audience that assembles to witness an exhibition of this nature is usually the most sympathetic audience that one could ever address. When they see the mind-reader perspiring and working intently and doing his work well, they cast aside all thought of fraud and are with him, every one.

When I return to the stage, it is necessary to have a drink of water. Those who have done the work know what it means. After that, I enlighten the audience on the tenor of the next experiment, which will be much more complicated than either of the two preceding it.

"My next experiment will be as follows: I want one of these gentlemen - again a new one - to go into the audience and select some lady's ring. Remember the hand and the finger on which it belongs. Then hide it anywhere you please. Return to me, I will take your hand and find the ring, the party it belongs to and place it on the correct finger".

There is a gentle murmur as I finish my speech and the committee again select a gentleman to do the work. He goes out among the audience while I take a few long, deep, even breaths to rest myself from the fatigue I am undergoing. The man or woman who has given only parlor entertainments and has not spent more than fifteen minutes at a time at the work will hardly appreciate the real strain that a mind-reader has to undergo in his stage work. In the first place, the hall is usually warm by the time it is filled. In the second place, he keeps his bandage on for a long time; usually really an hour before removing it. I have met some men in this line, among them very prominent mind-readers, who had a bandage made that would fit over the eyes and not make the pressure too severe. This bandage was made of felt, I believe, having two convex lobes to place over the eyes. It fitted tightly on the brows so that there could be no possibility of fraud. The pads were also used and over these was placed a silk handkerchief. This was easily removed. After each act, he would remove it and address the audience with the blindfold off, replacing it every time.

But I must return to my experiments: The gentleman has returned. I ask him if he has placed the ring in a good place and if he knows just where the lady sits and which hand and finger the ring belongs on. He states that he has arranged everything just as instructed. I take him by the hand and we start for the audience. I will describe the sensations I experience in fulfilling this experiment:

As I leave the stage, the floor seems to move under me, turning now and then. I lower my foot when I come to the steps, not feeling for them. I know nothing about them and I care less. Again the floor twists and turns rapidly and I am wandering somewhere. Sometimes I realize that I am going very fast and at others I feel as though I scarcely move. Finally, after having felt the floor turn many times under me, I stop. No longer do I have any desire to move my legs. I usually take hold of the assistant's right hand with my left, running his arm under mine so that I can hold his hand with its back to my temple. I get the best impressions in this way. I always have my right hand free. I now feel a desire to move my right hand and my body. I am reaching up, higher and higher. There is a desire to reach very high, and I step upward. As I do so my foot touches a chair and I am soon up, reaching on the wall -I presume. After passing my hand back and forth once or twice, I let it touch the wall and I have the ring.

I take the ring, get down from the chair and have started again, and the floor is once more twisting under my feet. Having made several turns, I stop and reach out my hand. I let it rest on the head of a lady and I know - because my hand is not imbued with a desire to travel further - that I have found the right party. After some difficulty in getting in a convenient position, I reach out and pick up one of her hands.

"Hold this out - so!" I place the fingers so that they are spread out. I then take the ring between my thumb and forefinger and again I forget surroundings. In front of me I see a wheel without a tire. The spokes are turning rapidly toward me. I hold a ring, or rather, a hoop. The wheel goes faster and faster and finally stops. The spoke in front of me is very distinct. I hold the ring by the rim with my hand and carelessly place it over the spoke. While I believe that I am doing this, I am placing the ring on the finger of the lady. The applause of the audience usually serves to bring me back to my surroundings.