"Ladies and gentlemen : It is with genuine pleasure that I am afforded this opportunity. My mission is not alone to entertain but to demonstrate the true side of hypnotism. This is a science that has been much abused. It has been decried as wrong, malicious, illegal. But this is the talk of the ignorant. Hypnotism is a mental condition differing but little from sleep. In this state the subject will accept suggestions and act upon them. Within a certain limit - or, within the domain of right -he will carry out all that he is asked to do, but beyond that limit he will refuse, awaking and returning to his normal state an independent individual. Believing that the oriental method might embody some hidden psychic force, I spent two years in the fastness of the Himalayas with the Swami Ladorrum, an Indian adept of the Yoga school. The methods I present here are those he taught me. True, they vary from the occidental methods to a certain extent, but that difference lies mainly in a greater knowledge of the subject rather than the possession of greater force or mental power. There is a common superstition that the hypnotist is a deep-dyed villain preying upon the weaker minds of those about him. That, I assure you, is quite untrue. I leave it to your own judgment. A good hypnotist must, of necessity, be a good fellow. In other words, the most successful hypnotists are those who are social and seek the warmth of the buffet rather than the seclusion of the Hindu temple.

"I now want a number of ladies and gentlemen to volunteer as subjects. I assure you that nothing will be done that is distasteful to the individual or the audience. I will not promise you all sorts of things to get you up and then displease you. I want my subjects to be strangers to me and I pledge my word as a gentleman to do nothing unjust".

I pause. A heavy, deathlike silence reigns over this vast assemblage. My own subjects know that they must wait until another call or two before they respond.

I look over my audience with a smile. After all, how like clay is the human mind in the hands of the right man. True enough, but there are several kinds and degrees of clay. This audience is mostly well baked clay.

"If you would come but one at a time there would be a great deal more room left for myself. As it is, you crowd me. Don't be impatient. I will try to find a place for you".

Ah! My audience has awakened! Quick glances are cast about to see who will volunteer. Finally, from one corner of the parquet, comes my own beloved Harry. Trusty boy, he! lie has evidently come from Qullet's Corners or some other crossroads town. His trousers flap about the tops of his shoes like a flag in the gentle breeze. I smile as I see Many Bravo, Marry! Good boy. He will be a real actor some day. I'he yeiy triumphant entry is worth an extra treat to-night, my boy You are doing well!

Of course, as Marry twitches his hat about nervously, he stumbles on the \\\\ hue and the gallery go wild with excitement. The audience limber up, 'h'i it were, and are interested. Mere, they think, I have victim one!

"Thank you. my boy!" I say. grasping his hand with enthusiasm, "lake a seat and wait until I get a few more".

Whether Harry is nervous or not, I have never ascertained. But he looks about him just as a lamb would do before the cruel knife sent It, young hie out and reduced it to chops!

" \ lew more, please." And I scan the audience as though I am iih.titl that the\ would all want to come.

Ih ie comes one of the boys I picked up during the afternoon. He hi not as good an actor as Marry and I fancy that he wishes himself out of a all Hut he climbs to the stage amid another volley of applause. Ml about the auditorium, I can see people whispering. Some are deiiHtiui me is a rank fraud; some are decrying it all as an evil; others .in u lime, of their experiences in this line and some more are wondering il ihiii companions have nerve enough to volunteer.

In the meantime, I have found my other boy - Albert, who has come hum the wings - and three others have come up besides him. In all. I have my boys, ranging in ages from fourteen to twenty years. They are a good lot and I really admire them from a professional standpoint.

I has taken, so far, about five minutes of my time. I have fifteen miimii a lfll in which to give my act proper, or put the subjects through ,(|m|m| experiments that will please and mystify the audience. By this inn. the gallery is nervous and there is interest evinced in 'all parts of the. h.mse. There are a great many present who look on the whole as an imm. n.e lake. They are partly right and partly wrong. I am obliged to deceive them to a certain extent to get subjects. I cannot depend upon the audience entirely or I would likely not get any. As it is I have two subjects on whom I can depend and there are four others who will likely be fair subjects. Out of these I expect at least two.

A strange lot, these stage somnambulists. They are like other mortals when they start out, but they soon learn that their "stunt" is as much a part of the show as the professor and that they must be approached in a certain way or results will never be received. They become horribly bigoted over their attainments and carry it ofttimes to the point of being nuisances. But they are not to be wholly blamed. Who, pray, would not feel slightly above the ordinary mortal were he to get up night after night and go into a trance and execute all sorts of grotesque things, at which he finally becomes an adept?

I step to the footlights and wave my hand gently over the audience. My face wears a complacent smile. But then I can be pardoned, in consideration of the great attraction this life has for me. I know that my entertainment will be a success. It could not be otherwise. Suppose that I did not succeed in hypnotizing my other four volunteers? What then? Nothing, I assure you. I would get Harry and Albert under the control and they are the best team on the evening's bill.