The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-04-20

OlNereQ. we decided to base our wOrK
upon the wisdom OF the old proverb
which says. First catch your rabbit
and then cook him." There is no doubt
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 clairvoyance. 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 | read fifty books and failed to
find an instance based upon such evi-
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 a tombstone in the matter. l 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; l am get
ting the philosophy of the subject out
sential point is that Hackett and
went out to catch a real rabbit-in 9th
., words, human being who had had
genuine "supernatural" message.
We did not care where it came from
or what it was about or how it was
transmitted so long as it could be
proved that it came and that no known
organ of this mortal body could have
enabled the individual to receive it.
When | was Il boy, | used to hunt
rabbits in piece Of woods which
was supposed to be particularly good
place for them. All youthful hunters
went there. and lis Il 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. l remember that for long time
afterward ali the boys were 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 it 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 reads
| you into a corner to tell you Of pro-
| phetic dream or a mysterious psychic
| message, he does not believe the story
I himself. Perhaps he may be trying to
:: believe it, but no one has to try to be-
| lieve in a 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 ana not the result of
cOngenital mental distortion, we rode
it calmly and were 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 WIZ engaged in a fruitless
though not uninteresting investigation
in Boston that we came quite by acct
dent upon the most important informa
| ton. We made the acquaintance of 8
: young physician named Harold Whit
ing, who was then and is today one OF
the most honest minded men in the
world. l believe that Whiting would
not lie even to himself, and there are
I few of whom so much can be said. HI
4 was amusing himself with experiment.
in the matter Of peculiar capacities ant
knowledge exhibited by persons in thu
hypnotic state, but confessed that hi
had found no facts upon which con
illusions of any Importance could b.
based.
We discovered that his thought hat
been turned into this channel by re
markable occurrence which he had wit
messed, but we had considerable diff
Guilty in persuading him to say any
thing more upon the subject. 1t ap