The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1907-05-23
sunshine and scatters diamond drops
until the juggler again gives a COM
|


''Stop!'
"Stop!" And it stops.
Once more:
"Spoutr'
And thus the crystal fountain spouts
and stops as hidden until more water
is running over the deck than is alto
gether comfortable for bystanders.
During his whole performance the
juggler repeats over again the mystic
but apparently irrelevant words:
"Bandar ka kopra! Bandar ka ko-
pray' (''Skull of monkey! Skull Of
a monkeyv)
''Backsheeshv' the holy man now s,,g-
gests and indicates the red cloth as an
appropriate receptacle for cash ac-
knowledgment of his occult power.
As coins fall he deftly recovers them
and bites each one to test its genuine
ness. At last he piles the contribu-
tions neatly, shakes the cloth and
again spreads it on the floor.
Again the juggler's eyes fix them
selves in cataleptic trance. Again he
PAGES around the red square, muttering
0utlandish words.
Something begins to move beneath
the cloth. 1t grows in size as the
spellbound audience gazes. There is Il
faint s0und-and-out hops a grinnng,
chattering monkey, while from the FAR
ther edge of the red rag cobra pokcs
its venomous head and writhes its bulk
along the planks.
The passengers-cven the sailors
shrink and shudder, but their feet seem
spiked to the deck. No one moves.
though disgust and horror are mani
fest on every face.
A much larger object heayes beneath
the cloth-slowly, gracefully, a HindoO
girl rises to her feet, casts the red
cloth from her shoulders and smiles
upon a ships company. as silent and
aghast rs were the voyagers in that
dread ship. the Mystery"
Before anybody Is able to stir the
juggler claps his hands, his creatures
vanish, he rolls up his coins in the red
cloth, ties 1t around his neck, leaps
over the rail into the stream and
swims away.
There can be no doubt as to these
mystic performances being Illusions.
for any attempt to photograph them re-
suits in an empty plate.
Hintloo jugglers simply have the pow
er to make not only one person, but an
| unlimited number of persons. see. taste
and hear things which do not exist.
| To attribute this power to hypnotism
does not tleiract from the marvel of the
phenomena. We must admit that the
basic principle Of the mystery Is the
| subjugation of the weaker to the
stronger will.
Secondarily, there is in the HindoO
thought, resulting from their intense
love of solitary meditation, one of the
| nations most pronounced traits from
time immemOrial. We cannot dispute
that the Hindoos have acquired mental
faculties of which the younger western
civilizations are altogether ignorant.
as a matter of experience.
/ The Hindoo has attained marvellous
results on speculative philosophy.
| Through centuries he has developed
his mental powers by persistent exer.
| else and persistent effort-as with us.
cles of the body.
The Hindoo conjuror is no unlicensed
! charlatan. He is a man with ii ''voca-
! ton" It may be while he works in
the rice field that the Hindoo boy
hears the mysterious call of Brahma
and tells his parents:
"Kopal me likkha." CIT is written
upon my forehead.'o
i at first ''the chosen wanders
through the streets of his native town
/ black ropes of dank hair falling
about his face, streaks of clay across
his forehead and down his nose, a sim
gle cotton rag wound about lis mid
die. The million gods that 5000 Hin
doc years have accumulated for faith
full souls know that the chosen has
vowed pilgrimage to Benares-the
residence of the gods the HindoO
Olympus, not striding over the journey
erect. with strong young limbs, but
falling fiat on his face, measuring his
length with his brass water bottle for
all the weary way.
Thus does the Chosen accomplish
his pilgrimage, never lacking food or
drink or sleeping mat, for all dwellers
In the land know that lie is IL Bair-
| In 70 fi,o Ia
straight with the gods. At hast, eyes
bloodshot, feet blisterea. lie washes in
the sacred Ganges and bows In the
great temple ut Benares and tho
priests recognize his holiness ana say.
1T is written upon his forehead" Aft.
er which the chosen is for years Sc
clnded in the silent places Of India
that by prayer and austerity and mesli-
tation he may subdue the body and de-
velop the mind until lie acquires the
occult force whereby he compels his
fellow mortals to see things which are
not.
In the wild recesses Of his mountains
behind the walls Of his temples cary
ed into the solid rock-the Hindoo still
holds the key of mysteries that defy
the Ingenuity Of the best, most logical
and most scientific reasoners Of the
modern civilization. - Los Angeles
Times.
America has little of the econoni,
sagacity Of England, intellectual acu
I men Of Germany or social rhythm O
France.-A. e. Winship In Armenia.
III My Best Friend.