The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1886-04-01
AlATENT STREAK OF INSANITY.

a LATENT STREAK OF INSANITY.
PecuIiarities Of People Who Are Not Ezs
octly Compos aIentis-"A A Fixed Idea"
Some one has said that In every one Of
Ms there is latent streak oe insanity, and
I guess he wasn't far in the wrong. The
only thing is to keep our streak from be-
ing discovered. There was an old Lady
in Michigan who kept clearinghouse
for students. She kept a good boarding
house. She made royal pies, and she
brought the juciest roasts upon the table
that the hollowest student ever con-
sumed. She had the peculiarly of not
being able to write her name The STU
dents, although they liked her pies, re-
ga-ded her with great contempt. She
was the lastperson to whom they thought
Of applying when they began to miss
their Greek and Hebrew books, and great
was their astonishment when one of
them, who happened to ONTO her room
for a fre-shovel, found them hidden In
crannies about the Fireplace. They re-
covered possession, only to, ,haYe them
stolen again, and it!beeanae the regular
thing, when one Of these books were
missing, to search the old 'lady's room
t5stn it was found. ,.... ...,.,.;... ...I
Her peculiarly is equaled by that OF
another old lady oyer seas who had. q: q:
mania for watches, Caud:i never peddier
came to the door with them but shs made Is
q considerable purchase of, thenSS So,
Door was she that she, must have denied;
herself ebeR full allowance Of p0rridge to
indulge in the singularflu1ufy. When
she died her friends found an immense
oaken akist," as high as q table, and half
as long as her ll-covered bed, filed with
them; There is an old gentleman of re-
spectabiity and comparative wealth who
never loses an opportunity to possess
himself Of paper Of pins. # he goes
into a dry goods store to make pur-
chase, which he does once week, he
never rests until he catches sight of the
pin basket, and he is apt to carry these
pointed reminders of his visit away with
him.
But after all is he any more of mad
man than we who collect more, books
than we can read, or pay great sum for
black-letter volume whose pages are
sealed to us? What under the sun does
a man want with sixty different editions
of Shakespeare? He might just as well
have sixty different pairs of spectacles.
A physician of al insane asylum would
denonlinate this as q species of compare
tive alteration known as "a fixed idea" !"
For instance, know a man who never
pays his fare on the street cars without
afterward holding an imaginary alterca-
ton with the conductor-the latter de-
manding the fare second time, and he
Indignantly insisting that he paid it, and
that the conductors carelessness is ine1-
cusable. He fights against this feeling
whenever he feels it coming on, butit is
too strong for him. I have, recon-
meuded him to procure O.. free pass az a
as q relief from bis fixed idea:o
An estimable lady Of my acquaintance
has an exasperating trouble OF. this nat
ure. Some powerful mental influence
:,ompels her every few minutes to regard
her left thumb with the most intense in
terest. Now there is nothing remarka-
bic about this useful portion of her anat-
omy, either in size, shape, or feeling, yet
her eyes are riveted upon It at stated in
tervals, to the great annoyance OF herself
and family. She is mentally strong, and
comes of. family OF good mental and
physical condition, but somewhere in her
makeup there was an influence working
at cross-purposes with the surrounding
forces. have heard of gentleman
who was similarly impelled to count
everything hesaw. In this way he finds
himself counting passengers in street
cars, windows In houses, all the horses
in sight, the buttons on peoples clothes,
etc., till he is almost out of his senses.
He is under medical treatment for the
trouble, which seems to be: undermining
his mental powers.-Chicago News
HRambler."