The male sex holds aloof and leaves us to "perform these follies." Some ascribe it to man's superiority. Or as briefly summed up by a delightful member of their sex, who when declaiming against the possibility of the future being made visible, said, "With all apologies to you, I must say I am not so profoundly stupid as to believe in these things; it cannot be anything more than rot." It is remarkable how such protests die away when clairvoyant evidence, either by cards, tea-leaves, or other means, has accurately predicted some event of the distant future that at the time appeared absurd and impossible of happening. Woman may lawfully claim superiority with regard to her intuitive faculty, and thus she is well equipped for exercising her divinatory powers. Who need be dull or bored when the language of symbolism remains to be learned? Perhaps I should say, studied; for completely learned it can never be, seeing that fresh events are constantly occurring in the world, and new symbols appear representing each. There are few things more fascinating than personal discovery, and those who become students of divination by tea-leaves, or cards, may safely be promised a taste of this pleasing sensation of achievement. It is limited to the few to discover the marvels of radium, or the discomforts of the South Pole, but a fragment of their glory is shared by those who find new evidence of the far-reaching knowledge of symbolism. CHAPTER V SOME HINTS FOR DIVINERS REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF PROPHECY BY THE TEA-LEAVES "For a man's mind is sometimes wont to tell him more than seven watchmen that sit above in a high tower." To those of an inquiring or doubting turn of mind, there may arise the very natural question as to _why_ one shaped tea-leaf should mean "a hat" and another "a table." It is useless to point out that these objects are perfectly represented by the leaves. That is of no practical satisfaction. The simple fact that each language has its alphabet, its spelling, and its words, which must be learned before there can be any reasonable understanding of it, seems the best and obvious reply. Symbolism is a wide subject with many branches. Who can expect to master even its alphabet in a moment? To those who cannot accept the symbols in the tea-leaves on the authority of past experience, reaching over several centuries, I would recommend a careful study of their cups for, say, three months. Let them make notes of such signs as appear and beside them place their meanings and predictions. At the end of this time, compare all that has taken place with these notes, and I think there will be no further lack of faith in the tea-leaf symbols.