The Banner-Democrat., 1901-08-31
A LUNATIC COMMUNITY.
CITY OF cHEEL HAS =
STRANc: REPUTATION.

II
R...,rnjat :. lhe 1 eculiar Atnospherss
The ancient city OF Gheel, IN bef
gium, is getting reputation ol 1s
own. This IL not due to any particu
lar enterprise of the City Fathers, nor
to the industrious activity OF the citt
zens. Fame descended on Gheei ~
reason of its lunatics. Their Alarm.
ing percentage of increase soon raiseu
them to a majority requiring tne uA
divided attention of the legislators.
At the present writing sane men arg
at a premium at Gheel, and the iory
most social question Of the Gay 10
how to deal with the crazy man.
Among the latter not few main.an
that they have solved the proDiem'
asserting that no sane man can iesis-
late property in the interest VI 'n0
insane.
AL Gheel the social factions are NOT
fashioned on religious or poiiticai DC
Iiefs. nor divided according TO socl@
logical standing or preference.
questionable only question askeo
is simply: Are you sane OF ine"n
The people among whom you asSo-
ciate in Gheel are supposed TO answe.
that inquiry into your mentai sen,
vour own opinion not being vaiuea
the least. In fact, the Gheel lunatics
evince a propensity to go about from
door to door telling people that they
are really n,t crazy. In that quaint
Flemish city things have often SO
mixed socially that you can never De
quite certain whether your man Is
crazy or sane, or whether he mas tne
| same doubts about yourself
At Gheel If you go to BANQUET
and entertain the lady at your elbow
| in some unusual or unconventional
manner-say, by cracking a rev
| American jokes-you run the FISK Oh
being stigmatized a lunatic.
The cause Of this is that in Gheei
the insane are allowed to go about az
large. as asylums cannot be produced
fast enough to accommodate the intend
ing patrons" The municipal autnori-
ties have evolved a system OF their
own OF dispatchihg the mot danger
ucsly insane" into private families,
where they are boarded at the city's
expense. Over 2ae0 mad citizens are
thus being cared for to the profit OF
the Gheel clearinghouse keepers. at
the same time causing an unusuai
amount Of perplexity and congiomer-
ate incident among the sane inhaDi'
tants.
| Not a few of the latter have been
known to lose their wits from con-
slant intercourse with the freely per
ambulating Gheel madmen. AS soon
as a case like this Is proven the loser
of his wits is entitled to q pension
J instituted by the commonwealth with
! this purpose in view. What . rush
of "madmen" and "madwomen" there
, would be to the city hall of any Amer
! lean city where such plan would
. be tried!
II Among the popular cases" walking
, about the streets of Gheel, lending Il
+ 1t an odd, original and decidedly loca
) color, are the man who thinks he ha'
: two left legs, and the sage who be
!, lieves he can fly, though no wing
3 have as yet materialized on his per
Y son. If you glance suspiciously a
}. the latter gentleman Is likely .
e approach you on his mettle with
q well, If you don't think l can fiy yo'
t lust stand here and watch me-" An
so you stand by, being a tourist an
$ having nothing else to do at the mt
. ment. to watch the gray-haired old fe
low jump from one-story window I
y the street. This he calls flying. 7
his adly-deranged mind he has !
3 passing through space from the VII
y dow sill to the gutter, encompasse
. enormous distances In q planetar
. flight above the housetops.
A rather acute case is represente
y by the parsonage who insists on carr
y ing around a crowbar. He has
- idea that no door in the city Is wte
enough to let him In, although he
= as thin as rail. II he wishes to emit
a place he forthwith attacks tn
masonry with his crowbar in his enc
!. to make the passage wider. Someho
- this man has failed to make himse
= popular with Gheel shopkeepers.
~ There is an old, distinguished-loo
"a "a ing professor of biology who Is mad
~ insane on Just this one point.
"a imagines some huge. vampire-like b'
"a terfy is constantly following him
IN instill poison in his ear. To qua
ot against attacks of this nature he stu
his ears full of cotton, and swes
nm "ear-faps" even on the hottest su
,ss mer day.
I'M A pathetic instance of frail mi
", gone astray into the kindergarten
tly naive delusions is that Of q beauti
nut young girl Of well-known Fleml
at family, who goes about the stre'
an asking young men to put her in tn
is pockets. When asked for what p
to pose she wishes to reside with hal
lat kerchiefs, nail files and pocket kniv
for she says: "Oh, you see, am BE-
nal A wee, little seed, blown away fr'
nd the parent flower in the field.
on. some sparrow should spy me wol
eat be eaten up alive. So please pocl
wo mel" Doubtless young men can
lrt, found in this strange place who W
WIS their pockets were large enough
eek accommodate the winsome seed.
can Gheel has its "Nansen" ana
BILE "Dreyfus" in the shape OF ingeni'
he citizens, who honestly enough beli'
;er- themselves to personify the Morse
ant plorer and the French military n
the tyr respectively.
tne The most annoying OF the On
put nopular apparitions is the fat 2
VI who swears he is steamship!
ma. the way he goes whizzing and pun
lns through the thoroughfsres. imitat