After mastering the above exercise have the Transmitter select some small articles, such as a book, vase, ornament, etc., on a table, mantel-piece, etc. Proceed as before, varying the objects and places, endeavoring to get as wide a range of experiences as possible along the line of Mind Reading of this kind.

PRACTICE EXERCISE IV. FINDING HIDDEN ARTICLES.

After you have mastered the last mentioned exercise, have the Transmitter select a small object, such as a watch-key, match-safe, etc., and secrete it in some part of the room, you remaining out of the room until the article is selected and hidden. Proceed as before, until you find the secreted object. Your Transmitter should endeavor to give you a great variety in this exercise, in order to properly train you for the public demonstrations before companies, etc. Have him place a key in a book, under a rug, back of a picture, and in similar difficult places.

Let him exercise his ingenuity in finding strange places in which to hide the object. In the experiments in finding the hidden objects he must train himself to give you the mental messages "up"; "down"; "to the right"; "to the left," etc., just as he did his old message or impulse "this way." And you must train yourself to receive them. This training will be of the greatest possible benefit to you when you are called upon later to find objects hidden in people's pockets, etc.

GENERAL REMARKS ON PRACTICE.

The above exercises will train the student to receive and act upon the mental commands or messages of the Transmitter, under a great variety of circ.u.mstances and conditions. Many of the most successful public "Mind Readers" started out in public work with far less careful and thorough training. But there are now still greater degrees of proficiency possible. The student will find in succeeding chapters a number of interesting and startling feats and experiments which are intended for parlor audiences, etc., but which may be most profitably practiced previously with the aid of a good friendly Transmitter, in order that the Performer may familiarize himself with the details of the experiment, and thus be more at his ease when he demonstrates it in public. Then other new experiments and feats will suggest themselves from time to time, to the intelligent student which, likewise, should be practiced previous to a public demonstration.

In finding a hidden object, the first thing to do is to get an idea of the direction. Then the general location of the hiding place; and so on, from general impressions to detailed ones, until at last the fingers close upon the object itself. The Transmitter will be greatly relieved when the object is finally found, and the relaxing of his mental tension may be distinctly felt, and then you will know that your search is at an end.

PREPARING FOR PUBLIC WORK.

Before taking you on with the work before an audience, we must urge upon you to prepare yourself thoroughly by means of the above mentioned exercises. The great tendency among students is to hurry through to the public work, and skipping the exercises as much as possible. This is all wrong. You will never be a thoroughly good demonstrator of anything in life, until you master the rudiments, and by practice familiarize yourself thoroughly with the details of the work. And Mind Reading is no exception. It is true that after a few exercises you may be able to give a fair demonstration before an audience, but you will never get further than "fair" without careful practice. And therefore we urge you to have patience and perseverance, and to stick to the exercise until you become a Master of Mind Reading, when you need fear no audience whatsoever, and will be able to give a demonstration that will be a great credit to both yourself and to us, your instructors.

And, now for your work before an audience, remembering, always that the feats and experiments that we shall mention, should be practiced by you privately, with the aid of a friendly Transmitter, before you reproduce them in public. In the case of feats, in which the audience is a party to the experiment, such as the finding of a scarf-pin on a member of the audience, you may practice with a dummy audience, that is with an imaginary audience consisting of chairs, etc., until you familiarize yourself with the details of the feat.

LESSON V.

SIMPLE DEMONSTRATIONS.

In beginning a public demonstration, it will be well for you to give a short preliminary talk to the audience, somewhat along the following lines:

OPENING TALK.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, with your a.s.sistance I shall endeavor to give you a demonstration of practical Mind Reading, beginning with some simple feats, and then proceeding gradually to more complicated demonstrations.

In these demonstrations, I must have your co-operation, for the success of the experiments depends as much upon you as upon myself. In the first place, I must ask that you refrain from conversation, laughter, etc., while I am demonstrating, for these things distract the mind of the Transmitter and prevent him from concentrating his Mind and Will upon mine; and also prevent me from maintaining that Pa.s.sive Mental State which is essential to the success of the experiments. I trust that you will help me in this way. I also ask that during the experiments, you will all concentrate your Mind and Will upon me, and help me in the work. In order to obtain the best results all Mind Readers prefer that their audiences concentrate their Wills upon the work, with the purpose of mentally willing that the demonstrator be successful. In fact the success of the experiments depend very materially upon the _Willing_ exerted by the audience. If you Will in my favor, I shall be successful; if you Will that I shall fail, I shall feel the effect. Therefore, kindly give me your aid. I ask you to blindfold me and take such other means to prevent unfair methods and practices, as your judgment may dictate. I am now ready to proceed with the tests."

CHOOSING THE TRANSMITTER.

Then have the audience select a committee to blindfold you and remain outside of the room with you, while the remainder of the audience select the object that you are to find, etc. When you return to the room, select someone to act as Transmitter. If possible get someone with whom you have previously practiced, and established rapport conditions. This will aid you very materially, of course. If this is not possible, select someone of the audience that is in harmony with you, and who will have a strong enough will to give you the vibrations. Sometimes women are very good at this work, as they get very much in earnest when interested, and therefore Will intently. If your first Transmitter is not satisfactory, test another, and so on until you get a good one. You may change Transmitters during the evening, if you prefer; in fact this is a good plan, if you are an adept, for it shows the audience that there is no collusion.

INSTRUCTING THE TRANSMITTER.

You should instruct the Transmitter, along the lines indicated in a previous chapter, i.e. that he must hold the thought of _direction_, fix his eyes on the chosen spot and then _concentrate his will_ upon it, and that your success will depend materially upon _his ability to concentrate his Mind and Will upon the task_. You should explain to him that you receive your impulses through his thought-waves or vibrations, and that the stronger these are, the better you will succeed. Make this plain to him. When the Transmitter fails to concentrate his Will, you will know it at once, and should call his attention to it, saying "Concentrate, concentrate now--_harder_--use your _Will_," or words to that effect. You should impress upon the Transmitter that it is the _strength of his Will_ that produces the mental vibrations that give you the impressions.

BEGINNING THE TEST.

Then, take the hand of the Transmitter, in the manner already described in previous lesson, placing it to your forehead, or else holding it up high in front of you. Then begin a wavering motion, or direction, preferably describing a circle, slowly. In this meaningless wavering motion remain perfectly pa.s.sive awaiting impressions. Soon you will begin to feel a mental resistance to certain directions, and a mental willingness that you move in another direction. Then move along the line of the least mental resistance. In some cases you will receive a strong _mental urge_, _pull_, or _push_, in the direction of the selected spot.

Here is where your practice comes in, for in your practice experiments you have acquired the art of recognizing these impressions as they come to you, in their different forms, and so are prepared to yield to them and move accordingly. It is impossible to describe in writing just how these impressions come, and feel like, for actual experience is necessary before you will know just what is meant. But once you have accustomed yourself to receive and recognize the impressions, the rest is all a matter of practice and development.

And now for the demonstrations themselves. You should begin with the simplest feats, and then work up gradually to the more complicated and difficult ones. This plan will build up your own powers, and will develop the Transmitter's. We herewith give a number of interesting feats and demonstrations, explaining the details of each. Of course, the general directions we have given regarding the receiving of impressions, etc., will apply to all of these feats, for the principle underlying them all is the same, precisely.

FINDING A LOCATION.

DEMONSTRATION I. Begin by having the audience select a part in the room, which may be easily reached by you. Then proceed as directed, until you feel that you have reached the right place, or location.

FINDING A PERSON.

DEMONSTRATION II. Have the audience select a person, one of their number. Find the general location of the person. Then standing still, reach out your right hand, and begin "feeling about." You will find that as your hand moves away from the right person you will feel a _drawing back_ impression, whereas when you reach toward the person you will receive an _urging forward_ impression. A little practice will soon enable you to distinguish these mental impressions. Then place your hand on the person who seems to be the centre of the impressions. If this is the wrong person, you will receive a mental impression of "_Wrong_"; in which case you must start up the moving your hand to and fro, and around, until you feel the urge impression, when you should place your hand on the person immediately in front of you. When you reach the right person, you will receive an unmistakable impression and mental message of "All Right," followed by a lessening of the Will tension, and you will know that you have succeeded. You should practice this in private before attempting public demonstration.

FINDING A SMALL OBJECT.

DEMONSTRATION III. Have the audience select some small object in plain sight in the room. Then find it in the manner described of above in the case of the selected person. The rule is identically the same. But there are some other details to be observed, in the matter of "up or down,"

for the object may be higher than your shoulder or lower, in which case you will have to either reach up or down. In this reaching up or down, follow the same general rule as given. When you reach the right location, you will feel an impression of "not yet finished" from the mind of the Transmitter. Then reach up slowly. If this is right you will receive a corresponding impression, and may go on to centre the object.

But if it is not right, you will receive a mental urge _downward_, which you should follow. The rule always is to _follow the line of the least mental resistance_. You will always receive the resistance when you are not succeeding, and will always receive the lack of resistance when you are succeeding. Learn to focus these impressions until they centre positively and constantly on the same spot--_then you have succeeded_, for there will be your object right under your hand.

FINDING A BOOK.

DEMONSTRATION IV. Have the audience select a book on the shelves of a book case, and then find it in the manner just related. The two feats are precisely the same, although the latter will appear more startling to the observer.

THE FLORAL TRIBUTE.

DEMONSTRATION V. This test is known as "The Floral Tribute." It is performed by having a bouquet of flowers on the table. Then select some young man in the audience, and let him pick out some young woman in the audience whom he wishes to have the flowers. You must retire from the room, of course, while he selects the young lady and mentions her name and position to the audience. Then returning to the room, pick up the bouquet, and taking the hand of your Transmitter, find the young lady and present her with the flowers. Of course this feat is merely a fancy rendition of the simple feat of finding the person thought of, and is performed in the same way. (Study the directions for Demonstration II, and apply in the present case, with appropriate variations.)

THE REUNITED COUPLE.

DEMONSTRATION VI. This test is known as "The Reunited Couple." It is performed by having the audience select two persons, a young man and a young woman, and stand them up in front of the room, like a couple about to be married. Then they should have a third person, a man, selected and stood before them as the parson who will tie the knot. The three persons should then take their seats, and when you enter the room, and take the hand of your Transmitter, you must first find "the Parson"; then "the Groom"; and then "the Bride," and arrange them in their proper positions. This is a highly effective test, and invariably brings hearty applause, and the hunt affords much merriment to the audience. But, as you will see readily, it is but a variation of Demonstration II.

THE HIDDEN JEWELRY.

DEMONSTRATION VII. Have the audience select some small article, like a scarf-pin, ring, etc., and hide it on the person of some one of the audience. Then you are to find it. This demonstration combines the features of Demonstration II, and Demonstration III, that is you have first to find the person, as described in Demonstration II, and then the object which is practically a variation of Demonstration III. Study the details of Demonstration III, and practice the present demonstration in private before trying it in public.

THE DISCOVERED COURSE.

DEMONSTRATION VIII. Have a member of the audience walk around the room, following a prescribed course selected by the audience. Have your Transmitter memorize the course accurately, and then you must walk over the same course when you return to the room. This is effective, but is merely a variation of the "Finding the Corner" demonstration.