Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-12-24

cial interests, and to be brief about it
1 we really did not know what to do with
ourselves. Unlike many others in the
same situation, however, we knew
what was the matter with us-we need
ed mental exercise. This decision we
had reached before the Englishman's
book fell into our hands and offered
an acceptable suggestion. If we haG
not chosen to investigate psychic phe
nomcna. the hidden wonders of the hui
man mind, we should have followed
some other line, with II less definite re
suit perhaps.
| 1t would be singular 1t two trained
business men, with thoroughly practi
cal minds, accustomed from their you'll
to deal with hard facts. should fail t.
accomplish anything in such an under
taking, We approached the subject
without prejudice. When we discussed
the matter in the light of the blazing
logs In my library. Hackett would bt
the skeptic on Tuesday evening ant
on Wednesday We never agreed
In those early stages except upon 6
statement of the first essential of the
Investigation. AS to that, we never
differed. We decided to base our work
upon the wisdom of the old provert
which says. First catch your rabbit
and then cook him" There is no doub,
whatever that nearly all mankind have
tried to cook this particular rabbit be
fore catching him.
Suppose we take the psychic problem
in its simplest form, which used to be
called clairyoyance, and l still think
that that Is the best term for it. Is
there upon record one single genuine
case of it, proved beyond doubt? Hack
EFT and l read fifty books and failed tc
find an instance based upon such evil
dence as we would accept in our bust
! ness. Yet where there Is so much
smoke there must be little fire, and
using this crystal Of popular wisdom
as tombstone in the matter, / would
be willing to assert that one ten
millionth Of the labor wasted in base.
less discussion of doubtful facts would
have sufticed to give the world enough
| genuine facts to satisfy all candid
| minds.
| Have patience with me; am get
ting the philosophy of the subject out
of the way as fast as can. The es.
sential point is that Hackett and l
went out to catch a real rabbit-in 9th.
er words, a human being who had had
genuine supernatural" message.
We did not care where it came from
| or what 1t was about or how it was
transmitted so long as 1t could be
proved that it came and that no known
organ of this mortal body could have
enabled the individual to receive it.
When l was Il boy. / used to hunt
rabbits in a piece of woods which
was supposed to be particularly good
place for them. All youthful hunters
| went there, and as a result Visible to
me in these mature years. all sane
rabbits had gone over into another
county. One day, when the snow had
come and the rabbits had put on their
winter coats, some jester set up the
corpse of a white cat in the edge of
the woods in an absurdly conspicuous
| position. saw it and blazed away,
| though my common sense should have
| told me that it could not be rabbit
because such preposterously reckless
rabbit would have been shot long ago.
Yet wasted my powder, and, having
done SO. set the creature up again in
the same place. and every mothers
son that came that way exercised his
| craftsmanship SO long as there was
anything to shoot at. And next day, in
different spot, but equally conspicu-
Gus, the joker played the game once
more. remember that for long time
afterward all the boys We're ashamed
to be seen going into that piece of
woods with gun
| 1t took Hackett and me about year
to discover that genuine psychics are
not found in the edge Of the woods be-
| side the beaten path; that 1t is hard to
| find them even when one knows where
they are, for they lie low, and, like the
rabbits, they initiate the natural color
of the surroundings.
| You may accept this as general
rule: When your fellow man takes you
by the button of your coat and leads
you into corner to tell you of n pro-
phetfc dream or mysterious psychic
message, he does not believe the story
| himself. Perhaps he may be trying to
believe it, but no one has to try to be-
lieve in real experience of that kind
after he has had it. He knows. And
the chances are good that he will not
talk of it to his closest intimate 1t is
ever the element of doubt that leads to
talking.
Our hobby gave to Hackett and me
an excuse for study, an aim in travel
and an opportunity of meeting cultivat-
ed men and women. AS it was an
elected hobby and not the result of
congenital mental distortion, we rode
1t calmly and We're never mistaken for
cranks except by cranks. 1t is true
that some of our earlier experiences
were more or less absurd, but we were
saved from serious error by the bust
ness mans faculty of turning from the
impracticable to the practical When
we encountered an impostor, we
promptly charged him up to profit and
loss" and passed on to the next item.
| 1t was while engaged in fruitless
though not embarrassing Investigation
in Boston that we came quite by acct.
dent upon the most important informa.
ton. We made the acquaintance of o
young physician named Harold Whit.
ing, who was then and is today one OF
the most honest minded men in the
world. I believe that Whiting would
not lie even to himself, and there are
few of whom SO much can be said. He
was amusing himself with experiments
in the matter of peculiar capacities and
knowledge exhibited by persons in the
hypnotic state, but confessed that he
had found no facts upon which con
illusions of any Importance could be
based.
| We discovered that his thought had
been turned into this channel by re
markable occurrence which he had wit
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