It is to be observed that the questions which the "Spirit-Postmaster" can answer _require no knowledge of facts about the applicant_, while those which he cannot answer, do require it. Address, for instance, your spirit-father without mentioning his name, and the name will not be given in connection with the reply purporting to come from him--unless the medium knows your family. I will write a series of questions addressed to one of my spirit-friends, inclose them in an envelope, and if Mr. Mansfield or any other professed medium will answer those questions pertinently in my presence, and without touching the envelope, I will give to such party five hundred dollars, and think I have got the worth of my money. CHAPTER XI. THE "BALLOT-TEST."--THE OLD GENTLEMAN AND HIS "DISEASED" RELATIVES.--A "HUNGRY SPIRIT."--"PALMING" A BALLOT.--REVELATIONS ON STRIPS OF PAPER. An aptitude for deception is all the capital that a person requires in order to become a "spirit-medium;" or, at least, to gain the reputation of being one. Backing up the pretence to mediumship with a show of something mysterious, is all-sufficient to enlist attention, and insure the making of converts. One of the most noted of the mediumistic fraternity--whose name I do not choose to give at present--steadily pursued his business, for several years, in a room in Broadway, in this city, and succeeded not only in humbugging a good many people, but in what was more important to him--acquiring quite an amount of money. His mode of operating was "the ballot-test," and was as follows: