Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1891-07-17

us--a genuine dwarf tree--root stem,
bark, branches, leaves, all complete, as
real as the mangoes we eat Remem-
Der, four acute-eyed, incredulous, sus-
picious Europeans, watching the whole
thing during the whole time (nearly an
hour, and attending to nothing else;
the performer almost naked native,
with only loin-cloth on; the flower
pot right under our eyes, no one touch
ing 1t during the whole time; in our
own veranda, and in broad daylight.
All the stock objections of sleight-of-
hand, optical delusion, ETC., fail in this
case, to my own certain knowledge;
and others can vouch for its not being
very rare thing in India.
But how explain it? Are there hid
den forces in nature, of which some
succeed in learning the secret, and uti-
lie their knowledge to work what
seems an impossibility or wonder?
Do not gardeners force early plants?
Do not the Chinese grow miniature for
est trees, showing every sign of prema-
ture but fully developed old age in a
dwarf body? Who can dogmatise as to
what is or is not impossible in nature?
From several quarters heard of, but
did not myself see, what does appear
an impossible feat; this, therefore,
give on mere hearsay evidence. A Jug
gler pitches" at o corner of bazaar or
wide street; and In the presence of a
gaping crowd which speedily assem-
bles to witness the "tamasha" or fun,
he takes out of his wallet large ball
of Irvine, and tying one end of 1t to a
corner of the wallet casts the ball up
skywards with all his might. Up it
goes, unwinding gradually-up and out
of sight 1t does not come back; it has
unfolded itself on, into the blue sky, 1t
seems. He orders his attendant--a
small boy, possibly his own son, and
about eight years Of age-to Ego up"
The boy grasps the Irvine and goes
hand over hand, up, up and out Of
sight. Remember. please, that Indian
houses are low, and that 1t needs but
little sense to see whether ball of
Irvine has been thrown in q common
way on and over neighboring house,
or has unaccountably gone up into the
sky without coming down; whether a
small boy has by means of this Irvine
gone on to housetop or has disap-
peared into the heavens as unaccount-
ably as the Irvine did.
After a number of ordinary tricks,
the juggler declares he needs the boy
help, and looking upwards, calls him
by name. A voice replies from a dis
lance above, saying he will not come
down. (Ventriloquism, you suggest
Very well; perhaps SO: waltz The
man gets angry, says the boy must be
punished; and taking long knife be.
tween his teeth, he goes up the Irvine
hand over hand, as the boy had done be-
fore, and apparently disappears in hi.
turn into the sky. A scream is heard
above. Then, to the horror of the spec
tators, drops of blood rain down; and
then the child falls, dismembered, with
his few clothes cut, and covered with
blood. The man then slides down the
tWluo, Will tuc KILL, dill DlOOuy, dI lIs
waist. He casts sheet over the
mangled remains of the child, and
leisurely proceeds to wrap up into {
ball the Irvine which comes down tt
him by degrees from the sky, as l.
there were a kite at the end of it. Ht
puts his things into the wallet and ther
takes up the sheet. From under it
whole and intact, alive and grinning
rises up the identical small boy! There
are no mangled remains, and no blood
/. On this / make only one remark: thu
thing itself seems really impossible, ye
that does not prove that the perform
ance is not actually done. The para
dox may possibly find its resolution il
the suggestive experiences of hypnot
ism. A hypnotised patient sees ant
: feels what his hypnotiser wishes him t.
, see and feel. Is it possible to hyp
notise a whole crowd? If so, and tn
crowd thereupon proceeds to see wha
the juggler or hypnotiser desires then
to see, great many of the wonders o
Indian magic would be thus explained
! Chambers Journal.
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