High School of Commerce - Caravel Yearbook (New York, NY)

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COMMERCE YEAR BooK,'191Q The Professor said that he would .hypnotize the baby-which had never been done before. Then he would hypnotize himself, and after a few minutes some one should shake them gently and they would both wake up. He said that this would be the best exhibition of hypnotism ever given, either publicly or privately, and so forth. I After this peroration, the hypnotist waved his hands around and started to do some funny tricks. We all became very quiet and rather nervous. I had never seen a hypnotist act like that before, and have never since. He was all right, however. For the baby soon closed his eyes and fell into a regulation hypnotic trance. The Professor then started on himself, and if a man, sitting nearby hadn't caught him, he would have fallen to the floor-he put himself to sleep so hard. . There we were, then-with two hypnotized persons in our midst. The silence itself was weird. lldy, but it was creepy! For a while we all sat staring at the two main figures. Then we looked at one another in a timidsort of way. Finally somebody ventured to remark that it was time we shook them, as per orders. , Whereupon two men arose and shook the Professor and the baby as though they were handling dynamite. The Professor opened his eyes first. He looked around sort of sheepishly, and when he saw the baby's mother, he jiggled around and cried: Da-dal We all thought this was great, so we clapped our hands in' applause, and I ungently prodded Jim in the ribs with my elbow. The applause awoke the baby. He looked around very intelligently, stroked his chin as though he thought he were a bearded scientist, and said: Ladies and gentlemen, this is a most prodigious and precarious predica- ment for any man to be in! , ' That made us all go nearly crazy. We jumped up and began to crowd around the infant phenomenon. Jim turned -fiercely to me and said it was all my fault, he was so excited. The mother let out a yell and would have run out of the room with the child, but some one stopped her. In the meantime the hypnotist was standing around with a dazed ex- pression on his face, making funny sounds. Somebody made him sit down in a chair, and then poured water over him. That only made it worse, for he began to cry. It was all very queer. Suddenly the baby said: Don't you people know what has happened? Why, it's simply this: The babyls spirit and my spirit have become twisted, and are now in the wrong places. I really don't know what to do- about it. I have the mind, but the baby's physical strength is not enough for a hypnotistf' The baby's mother began to cry, and the Professor began also, in sympa- thy. Une of the men told her to take her baby home, and maybe the thing 84 '

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. Q :ww-'ire .. F Q i thi lilm .l li I if jluii fi mmllw, MPH If V 0,1 ' lllllluulullllll ' lim, I TIME In ,it ll R ' f ly!! Nl Q 'I 'il l ,N V t it I b W so I I l l I N 4 j ' X nzyhllffi. fl H . I I ' Mbtimi ' 1 ' I JIIWS CCDNVERSION WILLIAM MEYER, IQI3 I I HERE was one subject upon which Jim and I could never agree. That was hypnotism. Jim simply wouldn't admit that there was any such thing or science or whatever it is. With all the enthusiasm of a stock broker trying to sell a gold brick, I argued with him and endeavored to show him the error of his ways. But he wouldn't take any stock in it. After the smoke and the heat of the argument had Cleared away, I still saw the sameunconvinced expression on his face, and the only thing that pre- vented me from pounding him was the fact that he is at least thirty pounds heavier than I am. I But that is all changed now. Jim believes in hypnotism as much as I do. His conversion came about in an odd way. One afternoon we wereoff duty-if being in the army may be called on duty. Not having anything else to do, we went around to see a friend of mine who had left the army on becoming the heir to some fool uncle or other. When we arrived there, my friend was just leaving to take in a private exhibition of hypnotism. iThis was just what I was waiting for. Jim and I were invited to come along, and the three of us walked off- to the tune of Jim's grumbling. . YVe soon reached the place-a fairly large reception room into which we were conducted amid a silence so profound that we could almost see it. There were several ladies and gentlemen in the room, and after the arrival of a few more spectators the exhibition began. First, the Professor, who was an intelligent looking man of about fifty years, introduced himself and told us what he meant to do. Then he turned to one of the ladies present who had a husky young baby with her, and asked her to lend the child to him. She wasn't very enthusiastic over this sug- gestion. Some of her relatives, however, persuaded her to let her child be a pioneer of science, or something like that. 83

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COMMERCE YEAR BOOK, 1912 would wear off. Then the baby spoke up again and said that, for all he cared, they could end the thing just as the men suggested-by 'the mother taking him along with her. But, he said, the hypnotism would never do such a ridiculous thing as wear off. a The lady kept bemoaning. the whole proceeding. Finally she said that, as it was her child in the first place, she would take him home with her. Though, she said, she knew for sure, that it would be a nuisance and a very queer thing to have such an intelligent baby around, and that her husband would not be a bit pleased. 1 The baby said it would be perfectly agreeable to him as he would be able to live practically a new life, and with an intelligent mind to start with. VVe wereiall too dazed by the mysterious thing that had taken place to realize what really had happened, or to believe readily the baby's explana- tion of it. It was too much for us, too much for our understanding. It had never happened before, as far as we knew. It might never happen again. So, after the baby's expostulation of the subject, a deep silence fell over us. Thus far the baby had been the center of attraction, as being able to tal k, it drew our attention to it first. But now we all turned to the Professor. All his actions, and the queer sounds he made, confirmed the baby's. state- ment about the .transmission of the spirits. As was also the case in regard to the baby, the Professor still had all his physical abilities. All that was -changed was his intellect. He saw a derby on the table, and taking it up, he tore it into shreds, after which he cackled with babyish glee. In a little while one of the Professor's friends said that he did not think much of the idea of letting the mother take the baby along with her, with the Professor's brains. 'He said he couldn't see how the Professor's friends and relatives were going to profit by having a mere dumb ,animal on their hands instead of the intelligent human being that the Professor had been. Furthermore, he said that before thinking of going home it would be advisable to get the Professor's brother, who was also a hypnotist, and see what he could do about the matter. . - . Then he turned to the Professor, and thoughtlessly asked him where his brother lived, so that someone could go and get him. The Professor, of course, couldn't answer the question. The baby then proved his own theory when he gave the address of his brother. But the mother was astounded, and said that he was mistaken, because the baby never had a brother. So, a few minutes had to be wasted to explain to her whose brother we were talking about. T V The address having been obtained, it remained fortsomeone to go and get the Professor's brother. We were divided into three factions, so to speak. One was on the mother's side, one was looking out for the Professor, and the third was made up of several men, including my two friends and me, who were neither friends nor relatives of the principals. ss A