Evening journal., 1907-03-18
A MARK TWAIN PRANK
The Great Humorist When a Boy
Posed as a Medium"
JUST WANTED TO SHOW OFF.

His Own Story Of His Temptation and
Fall, the Way He Improved His op-
portunity and the Dramatic Climax TO
4 His Performances.
I An exciting event in our village
WannibaD was the arrival OF the mes
herizer. think the year was 1850.
He advertised his show and promised
marvels; admission, as usual, % cents;
children and negroes half price. The
village had heard Of mesmerism in
general way, but had not encountered
It yet. Not many people attended the
first night, but next day they had so
many wonders to tell that everybody's
curiosity was fired, and after that for
fortnight the magician had prosper
GUS times. was fourteen or fifteen
years old-the age at which a boy Is
willing to endure all things. suffer all
things, short Of death by fire, II there
by he may be conspicuous and show
or before the publlc-and so when
saw the subjects" perform their fool
fish antics on the platform and make
the people laugh and shout and admire
l had a burning desire to be a subject
myself. Every night for three nights
l sat In the row Of candidates on the
platform and held the magic disk in
the palm of my hand and gazed at it
and tried to get sleepy but It was
failure. I remained awake and had to
retire defeated, like the majority. Also
had to sit there and be gnawed with
envy Of Hicks. our journeyman. had
to sit there and see him scamper and
jump when Simmons the enchanter
exclaimed, "See the snake-see the
snakeT and hear him say, MY, how
beautiful in response to the sugges-
ton that he was observing q splendid
sunset. and so on-the whole insane
business.
On the fourth night temptation came,
and l was not strong enough to resist.
When I had gazed at the disk awhile
l pretended TO be sleepy and began to
nod. Straightway came the professor
and began to make passes over my
head and down my body and legs and
arms, finishing each pass with a snap
Of his fingers In the air, to discharge
the surplus electricity. Then he began
to draw" me with the disk. holding II
in his fingers and telling me l could
not take my eyes or it, try as might
So 1 rose slowly. bent and gazing, and
followed that disk all over the place,
just as / had seen others do. Then l
was put through the other PAGES. Upon
suggestion fed from snakes, passed
buckets at a fire, became excited over
hot steamboat races, made love to
imaginary girls and kissed them, flshed
from the platform and landed mudcats
that outwelghed me, and so on, all the
customary marvels, but not In the Gus.
tomary way. 1 was cautious at first
and watchful. being afraid the profess.
or would discover that l was an i'm.
pOstor and drive me from the platform
in disgrace, but as soon as / realized
that I was not In danger / set myself
the task Of terminating Hicks useful
ness as a subject and OF usurping his
place.
1t was a sufficiently easy task. Hicks
was born honest; / without that in
cumbrance. so some people said Hicks
saw what he saw and reported ac-
cordingly; / saw more than was Wis
ible and added to It such details as
could help. Hicks had no Imagination;
1 had a double supply. He was born
calm; / was born excited. No vision
could start a rapture in him, and he
was constipated as to language any
way. but If I saw a vision l emptied
the dictionary on TO 1t and lost the
remnant Of my mind into the bargain.
At the end Of my first half hour
Hicks was a thing Of the past, a fallen
hero, broken idol, and knew It and
was glad and said in my heart, Sue
cess to crimew Hicks could never
have been mesmerized to the point
where be could kiss an imaginary girl
In public or real one either, but
was competent. Whatever Hicks had
failed in l made it a point to succeed
in, let the cost be what it might phys
ically or morally.
In 1s47 we were living In a large
/ white house on the corner OF Hill and
Main streets. Ny father died in 1t In
March OF the year mentioned. but our
I family did not move out OF It until
some months afterward Ours was not
the only family in the house; there
was another-Dr Grants. One day
DR. Grant and DIR. Reyburn argued n
matter on the street with sword canes,
and Grant was brought home multifari-
ously punctured. Old DR.. Peake call1-
/ ed the leaks and came every day for
/ awhile to look after him. The Grants
were Virginians. like Peake. and one
day when Grant was getting well
enough to be on his feet and sit
around in the parlor and talk the con-
versatlon fell upon Virginia and old
times. I was present. but the group
was probably quite unconscious Of me,
being only a lad and a negligible
quantity. Two Of the group. DR.. Peake
and Mrs. Crawford, Mrs. Grants moth
er. had been of the audience when the
/ Richmond theater burned down years
before, and they talked over the fright
/ full details Of that memorable tragedy.
( These were eyewitnesses. and with
sheir eyes / saw 1t all with an intoler-
able vividness. / saw the black smoke
/ rolling and tumbling toward the sky;
/ I saw the flames burst through It and
turn red; heard the shrieks Of the
dpsnof frfuc,. I ,yIfmnead fhair fncqq nj