- "Shall I remain a peddler or keep a store?"
- "Shall I sue my partner?"
- "Will my partner sue me?"
- "Shall I take my wife into the store as a partner?"
- "Shall I take my husband into the store as a partner?"
- "Shall I buy the goods?"
- "Will the bank fail?"
Under "Luck and Losses" are:
- "Was I robbed by friends or strangers?"
- "Does anybody look in my pockets nights?"
- "Will the landlord put me out?"
Roomful of Patrons.
The deviser of these books keeps his office in a rear tenement open from early morning till late at night, and there is generally a roomful of anxious patrons awaiting their turns.
At a single sitting, price $1, the man or woman who wants to know may select three questions. She puts the number corresponding to the questions on a slip of paper. The numbers do not run in regular order through the book or through any section of it.
The slip of paper is kept concealed by the questioner, and later on, when she is in the actual presence of the oracle, she writes those numbers again on another slip of paper, hidden from the fortune teller by a book cover. She also writes her name on two pieces of paper, which she places in two Bibles, opened at random by the fortune teller after she has named any three words she happens to see on the page.
Gets Pointers from Customer.
Then the books are closed, the soothsayer tells his customer what her name is (he is not often absolutely accurate in that part of the game), and then he begins to talk about the past and future in such a rambling, comprehensive way that he is almost sure to hit upon, directly or indirectly, the questions she has in mind. If he is too far off the trail he asks the woman from time to time if she understands him, and from her replies and questions gets a further clew as to just which three questions she had selected from the lists. Then the rest is simple.