The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1901-08-09
A LUNATIO COMMUNITY.
ANCIENT CITY or CHEEL HAS A
STRANGE REPUTATION.

In This Quaint Flemish Municipality
One May See the Victims Of Many
Delusions Walking the Streets without
Restraint - The Peculiar Atmosphere.
The ancient city Of Gheel. in Bel
GUM, is getting a reputation OF its
own. This is not due TO any particu-
lar enterprise of the City Fathers, nor
to the industrious activity OF the citi-
zens. Fame descended on Gheel by
reason OF its lunatics. Their alarm
ing percentage Of increase soon raised
them to a majority requiring the I'M
divided attention of the legislators.
At the present writing sane men are
at a premium at Gheel, and the fore
most social question of the day Is
how to deal with the crazy man.
Among the latter not a few maintain
that they have solved the problem
asserting that no sane man can legis-
late property in the interest OF the
insane.
At Gheel the social factions are not
fashioned on religious or political be
liefs, nor divided according to socio-
logical standing or preference. the
questionable only question asked
is simply: Are you sane or insane?
The people among whom you asso-
ciate in Gheel are supposed to answer
that inquiry into your mental self,
your own opinion not being valued
the least. In fact the Gheel lunatics
evince a propensity to go about from
door to door telling people that they
are really not crazy. In that quaint
Flemish city things have often so
mixed socially that you can never be
quite certain whether your man is
crazy or sane, or whether he has the
same doubts about yourself.
At Gheel If you go to a banquet
and entertain the lady at your elbow
in some unusual or unconventional
manner-say, by cracking a few
American iokes-you run the risk Of
being stigmatized a lunatic.
The cause of this is that in Gheel
the insane are allowed to 60 about at
large, as asylums cannot be produced
! fast enough to accommodate the intend
ing patrons" The municipal authori-
! ties have evolved a system Of their
own of dispatChing the mot danger
uosly insane" into private families,
where they are boarded at the city's
expense. Over 1000 mad citizens are
thus being cared for to the profit Of
the Gheel clearinghouse keepers, at
the same time causing an unusual
amount Of perplexity and conglomer,
ate incident among the sane inhabi-
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 case like this is proven the loser
of his wits is entitled to a pension,
instituted by the commonwealth with
this purpose in view. What a rush
of "madmen" and "madwomen" there
would be to the city hall of any Amer
lean city where such a plan would
be tried!
Among the popular cases" walking
about the streets Of Gheel, lending to
it an odd, original and decidedly local
color are the man who thinks he has
two left legs, and the sage who be.
lieves he can fly, though no wings
have as yet materialized on his per.
son. If you glance suspiciously at
the latter gentleman is likely to
approach you on his mettle with a
We'll if you don't think l can fly you
just stand here and watch me-" And
so you stand by, being a tourist and
having nothing else to do at the mo
ment, to watch the gray-haired old fel
low jump from a one-story window tt
the street. This he calls flying" Tt
his badly-deranged mind he has il
passing through space from the win
dow sill to the gutter, encompasse(
enormous distances in a planetary
fight above the housetops.
A rather acute case is represented
by the parsonage who insists on carry
ing around a crowbar. He has al
idea that no door in the city is wild,
enough to let him in, although he Il
as thin as rail- If he wishes to ente
a place he forthwith attacks the
masonry with his crowbar in his effor
to make the passage wider. Somehow
this man has failed to make himsel
popular with Gheel shopkeepers.
There is an old, distinguished-looR
ing professor Of biology who is madl
insane on Just this one point. H