Unlike the poet the ventriloquist is not born, but is evolved by persistent practice. This is contrary to the notion held by many persons even in these enlightened days, who believe that the ventriloquist comes into the world with a vocal apparatus differing from that possessed by humanity in general—in fact, with a "double throat" by which he is enabled to project his voice into space and have it explode anywhere at will, much as a dynamite bomb explodes away from the source from which it is hurled. In other words, a large part of the otherwise intelli­gent public still labor under the delusion that the ventriloquist is endowed by nature with the power of throwing his voice wherever and when­ever he pleases and causing it mysteriously to return to him; and that it is as easy to ventriloquize in the midst of a crowd or in the street as it is from a theatre stage or in a large hall where the audience is some distance from the performer.

If the commonly accepted theory of the vocal bomb were correct, it would undoubtedly be as easy to ventriloquize in one place as in another; but, as a matter of fact, there is nothing peculiar about the formation of the throats of the pro­fessors of this art, even of the most adept, to dis­tinguish them from the rest of humanity, and as for actual voice throwing—there is no such thing.

The absurdity of such belief is shown by the fact that persons who practice ventriloquism in mature years show no indications in infancy of possessing abnormal vocal powers. If they were born ventriloquists they would undoubtedly cry and talk ventriloquially in childhood, but this they naturally decline to do. When a pin pricks them or they feel the pangs of hunger they indi­cate that fact in the unmistakable manner of all infants—that is, by cries which clearly emanate from their own small persons—and not by throw­ing their infantile voices into different parts of the house to the consternation of the family and the wonder of the neighborhood. A born poet babbles in verse, crude though it may be, from babyhood; but ventriloquism is not bred in the bone and its practice made inevitable by a pecul­iar structure of the child's throat.
Ventriloquism does require, however, the pos­session of certain qualities of voice, such as strength, clearness, flexibility and ready ability to change at will; ordinary strength in the cartilaginous membrane of the throat and the muscles of the abdominal regions, and some apti­tude for mimicry, which of course is dependent upon a combination of qualities connected with the ear and the voice. A person having a defect­ive ear can neither sing in tune nor imitate sounds correctly, simply because not being able to hear correctly he has nothing to guide him in his own efforts. He may be endowed with every other requisite for the musical or the mimetic art, but through his inability to accurately sense the niceties of tone or pitch he neither sings cor­rectly nor deceives by his attempted imitations.

There are very few persons, however, whose ear is so imperfect that they cannot sing a little or imitate something, and it is safe to say that eight out of every ten could, with practice and perseverance, become acceptable if not great ventriloquists. There is nothing really wonder­ful about the art, although the effects produced by the successful performer may seem so, and if one has the qualities mentioned, or at least can develop, by intelligently directed exercise, those which he does not already possess, he can soon become a ventriloquist. The progress made will depend of course upon the fitness of the student and the faithfulness with which he pursues the study.

The feminine voice does not so readily lend itself to the uses of ventriloquy as does the mas­culine, but it is not impossible for a woman to become a fair amateur or even a professional performer. A few years ago a female ventrilo­quist presented an excellent act with four or five mechanical figures in the vaudeville theatres of the country, and once I met an old lady who in­formed me that in her younger days she possessed natural ventriloquial ability which had more than once enabled her to completely deceive her brothers. Some one, however, has had the audac­ity to remark that ladies should not learn, "as their voices are heard in too many places al­ready." Of course this is a base libel on fair womanhood, and ought not to deter any lady from taking up the subject if she feels a desire to do so.

After taking a few lessons the student may find that he has a hitherto unsuspected talent for the art, which only needs proper cultivation to be made a source of amusement and profit. As in music, there is a certain technique which must be thoroughly mastered before one can become proficient, and certain exercises conducing to voice production and culture which must be faithfully gone through with before one can give an efficient exhibition before the public. One must learn how to use the mouth and tongue to achieve certain results, how to speak interiorily with entirely motionless and almost closed lips, and how to make each of the sounds or voices used distinctive in tone, pitch and character.
The successful ventriloquist must also be cool, confident and something of an actor. The voices to him present no illusion, and he can judge of his success only by their effect upon his audience. I say no illusion, but this is not quite true; for though he knows that he is creating the sounds, if he is thoroughly proficient, there seems a sort of isolation between himself and the voice which discourses with him. If he is talking with "a man on the roof " and his performance is perfect, the voice almost seems even to him to be that of another person and he enters into argument with it with as much earnestness as if this were so.

In one respect his work is more difficult than that of an actor. An actor impersonates only one role at a time, but the ventriloquist who uses figures must speak the lines of several different characters in as many different voices, and must at the same time be ready to question, argue, re-prove or interrupt in his natural voice. In fact, he assumes the attitude of an interested spectator to whom everything said by the figures is as new and unexpected as to the audience itself; and al-though he is carrying on the whole conversation and constantly changing from one voice to an-other, he must be so thoroughly trained that no effort is apparent and no confusion results. The tyro is likely to make some amusing mistakes such as making Tommy talk with the voice which has been associated with Jerry, or interrupting with his natural voice when he should have done so ventriloquially. Because of the fact, however, that this branch of the art is more easily learned and not so difficult to practice, most professional exhibitors confine themselves strictly to it, but a more interesting entertainment can be given by combining figure working with feats of natural ventriloquism.

The farther removed a ventriloquist is from his audience, the greater the illusion he creates, and yet it is remarkable how near the auditor can stand to the performer without being disillusioned. Duringa performance given at a fair in Masonic Temple, Boston, several years ago, I had for my stage only a round dais at one end of the hall, raised scarcely two feet above the floor. The audience stood so close to the platform that I could almost touch the foremost persons, and I felt that under such conditions I could have very little success. But even here, a bright young lady who stood among those in the first rank of the crowd and directed her attention entirely to my face and lips in order to test the matter, after-ward assured me that the illusion of "the man Under thefloor" was perfect, and that the voice did not seem to proceed at all from myself. This may sound egotistical, but I simply relate the incident to show the perfection which may be obtained, and for the encouragement of those among my readers who desire to take up the art.
Unlike the magician, who requires an elaborate "fit-up" to properly perform his illusions, the ventriloquist always has the mysterious at his command. From a haystack by the country roadside or from behind the closed portals of an empty store or the depths of an open sewer in the city, he can evoke "spirits" to amaze and mystify the hearers, which yet exist in nothing more substantial than his own voice. The art is an old one, and there is no doubt that in earlier times it was used by unscrupulous priests to terrify ignorant people and keep them in subjection. It has been practiced on the banks of the Nile and among the Esquimaux in the Arctic Circle, and probably has its exponents in those regions to-day. Among civilized races it has long since ceased to be anything except a source of entertainment, and for that purpose it has a legitimate mission. In this strenuous age of money-getting, public amusements are necessary, as they afford welcome relief and relaxation from the constant hurly-burly of modern conditions. So long as the entertainer, whether he be an actor, a ventriloquist, a magician, a monologue comedian or what not, amuses his audience without corrupting them, so long is his mission a beneficent one and his place in the world of men as important in its way as that of him who devotes all his attention to more serious affairs.

Merely as a source of amusement, however, a practical knowledge of ventriloquism pays well for the time and effort spent in acquiring it in the amount of fun and glory one gels out of it, the relaxation it affords from the sterner duties of life, and the welcome pocket money which it brings to its successful exponent, which in a city, where one can be in touch with amusement agents, often amounts to considerable. Even though the ventriloquist has daily employment of a clerical or mechanical nature, there are always remunerative evening and holiday engagements to be obtained, especially if he is a little energetic in "drumming up trade" by keeping himself constantly in the minds of the agents, by sending out circulars and doing some advertising on his own account, and by watching the columns of the daily papers for announcements of future entertainments where outside talent might be wanted.

A half-hour's exhibition of ventriloquism with the aid of mechanical figures, which carry on a bright and amusing dialogue with the per-former and possibly contribute a song or two, varied by conversation with invisible people or imitations of various tools and musical instru­ments after methods which will be explained later, will often be eagerly accepted as an agree­able departure from the monotony of readings and vocal and instrumental music usually given at local entertainments.

In concluding this introductory chapter, I do not hesitate to say that if you possess a voice of at least moderate range and power, and an car that is fairly accurate in sensing sound impres­sions, you will have no difficulty in becoming expert enough in the art to give an exhibition similar to that mentioned above—just when, will of course depend entirely upon the amount of at­tention you give to it and the degree of aptitude you display. Time and experience are all that you then require to become perfect. The road lies before you and is not especially hard to travel; follow it faithfully andthe goal will soon be reached.