"Now, when I snap my fingers, the rest of you will enjoy the scenery or talk, and the officials of the train will look after their respective duties.

I want you all to have a good time and make as much noise as you please. That is the only way to enjoy yourselves".

I snap my finger and the comedy is opened. The conductor immediately realizes that it is necessary to punch the tickets and he loses no time in going in and out among the passengers, asking for their tickets and punching them with an imaginary punch. The brakeman is up on his chair calling off stations which exist principally in his own mind. He is evidently not acquainted with road in question and he composes a list of names to suit his own convenience. The porter, a sedate-looking man who might be the deacon of a church, is very obliging and he does not miss an opportunity to make every passenger as comfortable as possible. Some of the passengers are busy talking, while others are looking out of imaginary windows, each one seeing something different. The newsagent passes up and down and does his best to sell his evening papers. Once in a while he tries to get rid of his apples or his books, but his paper trade is what is interesting him the most.

The audience is greatly amused and the whole house is literally shaking with laughter. The noise on the stage increases as that in the auditorium does, and there is as much noise as one would justly hope to find at a church social.

I find that I have all that I can possibly attend to in keeping the various members of the train load in "working order." For instance, the newsboy goes into a trance and stands near one of the chairs holding out his hand and looking blankly into space, blinking his eyes and swaying to and fro. It is very necessary to keep him active, and when I have him again yelling to the top of his voice. I find that the conductor is looking a little dreamy. Others are wide awake and do not trouble me in the least The operator unacquainted with the work on the stage will find that his subjects act very differently and that he has all he can attend to in keeping the ball rolling and plenty - but not too much - life in the scenes.

Constant suggestions are necessary. Thus. I step in and out of the circle of subjects, touching one and then another, giving individual suggestions: "Now, keep wide awake; see. we are going through a tunnel now. Never been through a tunnel before? Keep awake, then. And you, hurry up and punch the rest of those tickets ; there are several that you have missed. And sell those apples: you are getting too slow; first thing you know some one else will get some apples and fruit and books and start to sell them and you will be beaten out of your trade. That's right, you four talk and look out of the windows once in a while. There, you two girls mustn't get too excited or you will be tired by the time you get to Washington".

And so I have to keep it up. the audience seeing only the very funny side of the whole story. Some of my subjects are sleepy, while others evince too much life. It is hard to keep them all working smoothly. Some hynotists do not look after these details enough and treat their subjects like so many automatons. This is due to rank ignorance on the part of the operator. A man or a woman brought up with any regard for humanity will go into the profession of stage hypnotism with a little heart and will take a great deal of care to see that no subject is left with the suggestions of fright clinging to him. He will also look after the welfare of the sickly looking ones, who would fare ill were suggestions of extreme activity given them. There are many sides to the really successful entertainment, and the operator who possesses a little "horse sense" will look after these details.

Thus it is that my audience is entertained and my subjects are not abused. When the act is finished, I must see that every one comes out of his sleep without any ill effects.

"Now," I say, "when I snap my fingers we will have arrived at our station and you will all be at your destination. Gradually you will all fall back into a sleep and rest for a moment; then I will snap my fingers again and you will all wake up, not with a start, but feeling refreshed. Attention, now!"

I snap my fingers. The subjects look about them in a dazed manner, some looking at the imaginary depot, others looking nowhere in particular. Then, one by one, their heads drop and they are sound asleep. I let them rest a minute or two, or until I sec that their excitement has all vanished, and I snap my fingers again. There is always a certain amount of surprise portrayed in the faces of subjects just awakened and this never fails to furnish additional amusement for the audience.

I have now presented an act which has taken me about ten or eleven minutes. I figure on presenting one similar in ten minutes. But the time always depends to a great extent upon the number of subjects I have.

I will now take two of the gentlemen and give the audience a treat from the standpoint of oratory. The hypnotic political speaker is always acceptable to an audience, and more especially if a dignified man can be induced to speak with all his might and main before a gathering of his fellow-townsmen.

I pick out two who are good somnambulists and take them in front of the audience. The remainder of the subjects are in a semi-circle. I seat these two side by side and stand in front of them. Holding my forefinger in front of them, I soon have them in a sound sleep. Here is another point I wish the student to bear in mind - give as many methods as possible. It serves to give the audience a variety and it also deepens the mystery of the performance. The operator who has but one or two methods accomplishes but little in the eyes of the audience. Before his performance is half through, about half the audience are certain that they can produce the same effects if they had some one to work upon. Now, this is just what the operator must not allow the audience to think about. There must be enough interest on the part of the onlookers and enough to the show to cause that interest, so that the last thing they would think of would be how they might do the same thing, for the moment that thought creeps into their minds, that moment they begin to lose their real interest in the show.