the crowd,
seek to direct it much more through the power of suggestion than by
sound conviction.

It is conceivable, therefore, that anyone who understands how to arrest
the attention of the crowd, may always influence it to do great deeds,
as history, indeed, sufficiently witnesses. One may recall from the
history of Russia Minin, who with a slogan saved his native land from
the gravest danger. His "Pawn your wife and child, and free your
fatherland" necessarily acted as a powerful suggestion on the already
intense crowd. How the crowd and its sentiments may be controlled is
indicated in the following account by Boris Sidis:

On the 11th of August, 1895, there took place in the open air a
meeting at Old Orchard, Maine. The business at hand was a
collection for missionary purposes. The preacher resorted to
the following suggestions: "The most remarkable remembrance
which I have of foreign lands is that of multitudes, the waves
of lost humanity who ceaselessly are shattered on the shores of
eternity. How despairing are they, how poor in love--their
religion knows no joy, no pleasure, nor song. Once I heard a
Chinaman say why he was a Christian. It seemed to him that he
lay in a deep abyss, out of which he could not escape. Have you
ever wept for the sake of the lost world, as did Jesus Christ?
If not, then woe to you. Your religion is then only a dream and
a blind. We see Christ test his disciples. Will he take them
with him? My beloved, today he will test you. [Indirect
suggestion.] He could convert a thousand millionaires, but he
gives you an opportunity to be saved. [More direct suggestion.]
Are you strong enough in faith? [Here follows a discussion
about questions of faith.] Without faith God can do no great
things. I believe that Jesus will appear to them who believe
firmly in him. My dear ones, if only you give for the sake of
God, you have become participants in the faith. [Still more
direct suggestion.] The youth with the five loaves and the two
little fishes [the story follows]. When everything was ended,
he did not lose his loaves; there were twelve baskets left
over. O my dear ones, how will that return! Sometime the King
of Kings will call to you and give you an empire of glory, and
simply because you have had a little faith in him. It is a day
of much import to you. S