Love, Life Work | Page 4

voice it will mistake you for an angel and fall at your
feet."
And the moral is, that as long as you are satisfied and comfortable, you
use only the objective mind and live in the world of sense. But let love
be torn from your grasp and flee as a shadow--living only as a memory
in a haunting sense of loss; let death come and the sky shut down over
less worth in the world; or stupid misunderstanding and crushing defeat
grind you into the dust, then you may arise, forgetting time and space
and self, and take refuge in mansions not made with hands; and find a
certain sad, sweet satisfaction in the contemplation of treasures stored
up where moth and rust do not corrupt, and where thieves do not break
through and steal.
And thus looking out into the Eternal, you entirely forget the present
and go forth into the Land of Subconsciousness--the Land of Spirit,
where yet dwell the gods of ancient and innocent days? Is it worth the

cost?

Psychology of a Religious Revival
Traveling to and fro over the land and up and down in it are men who
manage street-fairs.
Let it be known that a street-fair or Mardi Gras is never a spontaneous
expression of the carnival spirit on the part of the townspeople. These
festivals are a business--carefully planned, well advertised and carried
out with much astuteness.
The men who manage street-fairs send advance agents, to make
arrangements with the local merchants of the place--these secure the
legal permits that are necessary.
A week is set apart for the carnival, much advertising is done, the
newspapers, reflecting the will of the many, devote pages to the
wonderful things that will happen. The shows arrive--the touters, the
spielers, the clowns, the tumblers, the girls in tights, the singers! The
bands play--the carnival is on! The object of the fair is to boom the
business of the town. The object of the professional managers of the
fair is to make money for themselves, and this they do thru the guaranty
of the merchants, or a percentage on concessions, or both.
I am told that no town whose business is on an absolutely safe and
secure footing ever resorts to a street-fair. The street-fair comes in
when a rival town seems to be getting more than its share of the trade.
When the business of Skaneateles is drifting to Waterloo, then
Skaneateles succumbs to a street-fair.
Sanitation, sewerage, good water supply, and schoolhouses and paved
streets are not the result of throwing confetti, tooting tin horns and
waiving the curfew law.
Whether commerce is effectually helped by the street-fair, or a town
assisted to get on a firm financial basis through the ministry of the
tom-tom, is a problem. I leave the question with students of political
economy and pass on to a local condition which is not a theory. The
religious revivals that have recently been conducted in various parts of
the country were most carefully planned business schemes. One F.
Wilbur Chapman and his corps of well-trained associates may be taken
as a type of the individuals who work up local religious excitement for
a consideration.

Religious revivals are managed very much as are street-fairs. If religion
is getting at a low ebb in your town, you can hire Chapman, the
revivalist, just as you can secure the services of Farley, the
strike-breaker. Chapman and his helpers go from town to town and
from city to city and work up this excitation as a business. They are
paid for their services a thousand dollars a week, or down to what they
can get from collections. Sometimes they work on a guaranty, and at
other times on a percentage or contingent fee, or both.
Towns especially in need of Mr. Chapman's assistance will please send
for circulars, terms and testimonials. No souls saved--no pay.
The basic element of the revival is hypnotism. The scheme of bringing
about the hypnosis, or the obfuscation of the intellect, has taken
generations to carefully perfect. The plan is first to depress the spirit to
a point where the subject is incapable of independent thought.
Mournful music, a monotonous voice of woe, tearful appeals to God,
dreary groans, the whole mingled with pious ejaculations, all tend to
produce a terrifying effect upon the auditor. The thought of God's
displeasure is constantly dwelt upon--the idea of guilt, death and
eternal torment. If the victims can be made to indulge in hysterical
laughter occasionally, the control is better brought about. No chance is
allowed for repose, poise or sane consideration. When the time seems
ripe a general promise of joy is made and the music takes an adagio
turn. The speaker's voice now tells of triumph--offers of forgiveness are
tendered, and