Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-10-10
HYPNOTIZED APPETITEs.
A Story Which Shows How Occultixm
Is Hitrhed To InduntrioS Art.

A Story Which Shows How Occultixm
Is Httched to Industrial Art.
lone of the oldest things 1 ever saw"
remarked a physician in a small party OF
Washington story tellers, Il saw in a kind
of a hotel or rather feedery at the Chicago
stock yards"
Men or cattle?" queried a listener.
Men; and good men. / wasn't boarding
there, but I knew the proprietor of the
place, and had been his physician before he
went to Chicago, and after he got there he
made money enough to pay me to come
down and look over his family about twice
year. 1 lived only hundred miles away,
and usually made my trips between day
light and dark, taking my MONDAY meal
with him, at which time his main dining
room had from one to two hundred diners
in it. A great many Of these were tran
sicnts. and very many more were green
and unsophisticated young men from the
country who had come in with stock and
were utterly unused to city ways.
ION the day in question sat with the
proprietor at his little lookout desk. from
which he kept an eye on the business. ard
watched the people eat, which is not as
bad a show as you might think, il you
never witnessed such a performance. As
we sat there 1 noticed one waiter. a dark
skinned strengthening chap. who. in
stead CT having territory assigned him,
seemed to work all over the dining room.
He was a worker, too, and first attracted
me by the way he handled his people.
Il spoke to the proprietor about him, and
he told me to watch him, and he would tell
me about him as soon as he had time. l
followed his advice, and saw that the wait
er would apparently spot man as he
came in, and when he reached a chair he
would be there with a bow and a smile
ready to wait on him. The nan would
seem to start, as If recognizing him, and
would sit down and begin to look nervous.
THE waiter, in the meantime, kept his
eye on him, and would take his order. Of
ten the order was extremely light, covering
only a cup of tea or a piece of meat and
bread, or possibly a glass of milk. or a
| bowl of bread and milk. The waiter would
smile and seem to insist on the guest TAX
| ing more, but the guest shook his head.
and soon finished his frugal repast. AS a
physician, l wondered how men who work
ed as these did could get along with so lit
| tie food.
THAT afternoon the proprietor smiled
when 1 asked him about the peculiar wait
err He's a jewell he said, and he's worth
more to me than any waiter I've got,
| though I'm always a little afraid of him.
and to keep him in good humor 1 pay him
| about 50 per cent more than do any Of the
| others l don't know what he does, and I
| never speak of it to anybody. and only to
you because you are my family physician,
| but ne mas a way u plChlIlS Out the people
he wants to wait on as they come in, and
| when he gets hold of them he makes them
| eat what he wants them to.
Sometimes a big. hearty fellow will
gag and apparently get sick when he sits
| down to the table, ard after bite CIR two
| he pays his bill and goes out. That doesn't
| happen often, though. His way is to make
| his people eat Just a little Of the cheapest
| thingsits a thirty-five-cent dinner. you
| know-and many times glass of milk and
bread or a piece Of pie will be all they
| want, and they will go out perfectly salts
J fed to pay thirty-five cents for 1t. it ISM
| any of my business to ask about Their
l health or their appetite and 1 don't.
| leave my waiter to do that, and the pro-
| prietor smiled innocently rather than In
| guile.
Il didn't want to spoil good thing, but
| 1 thought I ought to- concluded the ply
| sicSAn, land 1 proceeded to tell my friend
| that the waiter was a SvengaG-by the
| way he had never heard of such q person
and was defrauding the patrons Ct thu
| restaurant by hypnotizing them and send
ing them out filled only with suggestions
| and that while 1t might be extremely re
munerative, 1t was not right at all, and The
| waiter should be sent away. Then think
ing my advice would be followed. o
course. I took my departure. Six months
later l came back. and the first man saw
in the dining room was SvengaI. 1 fancy
and the physician sighed. 1.-The Chicago eli
mate or something must have had an effec
on my friends moral sensibilities."