Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-03-07
A HOME FOR GHOSTS.
Plan to Benefit vagabond Spectres and
Protect Tenantless Houses.

My friend Bjenks, the real estate
agent, is uniformly fluent, but net al
ways convincing, said the amateur
psychologist from Poughkeepsie, as he
thoughtfully tucked the unreceipted
rent bill out of sight. When l ask
him why an unoccupied house runs
down, he tells me that it is because
no one is watching to take the stitch
IN time, As It were-to stop the small
hole before it becomes a big leak, put
IN screw to keep the back gate from
falling off its hinges, and slip an ex-
ira brick under the corner post when
the piazza threatens to tumble down.
"Of course, there is a measure OF
truth in this. We know, moreover,
that tramps and lead pipe thieves
grayitate naturally toward an empty
dwelling, and that its window glass
irresistibly attracts small boys with
stones.
yet, after all, the mere material
damage they do could easily be dupli-
Gated by many a family. You and |
know happy-go-lucky people who live
in an atmosphere of destruction. The
house they tenant gets no practical
help from them.
But though they tore it down and
burned it, one room at a time. the rem
nant at any period could never con-
vey the suggestion of fornlornness and
utter desolation which is impaired by
an uninhabited house
There is something in the feel of
an empty house that is perceptible to.
tae most hidebound consciousness
Blindfold any human being, set hin,
down in an unfamiliar room, and
senses more refined than those of sight
and touch will tell him whether it is
lived in or not.
Doubtless the psychic forces that
give the warning are built up of ema-
nations from the people who formerly
dwelt in the place. However that
may be, these forces-left over frag-
ments of personality, we might term
them-are obviously alert and active.
They must do something to pass
away The time. 1t seems a fair con-
clusion that, except on the infrequent
occasions when somebody comes in,
they do mischief.
Assuming, then, that these invisi-
BILE tenants wreak more destruction
that would come about from natural
decay or by the hand of man, the ques-
ton is how to restrict them to harm
less activities. The answer suggests
itself when we recall the propensity
Of ghosts for solitary places.
Il grant that ghosts have been
known to haunt inhabited houses. But
do not they, even then, invariably set
up headquarters in an unoccupied
room?
Fancy how pleased they would be
to have a house to themselvesl And
| admit that there are outdoor ghosts,
sojourners in cemeteries or wanderers
on the open highway.
but now do We know that many of
these are not poor homeless spectres
who, though they shrink from asking
favors, would jump at d chance to
get under cover? You see my idea?
propose that a house which circum-
stances require 10 remain unoccupied
for any long period shall be thrown
open to ghosts.
Have it generally understood that
they are welcome to come in. Then let
the psychic forces play against their
grisly ribs, and be hanged TO them!
The ghosts will not mind, and with the
psychic forces thus agreeably en-
ployed the house will be spared from
wreck and ruin.
y am bound to confess, howeveI,
the amateur psychologist added, that
with me this consideration weighs less
than the certainty of having always
at hand material for study. Psychic
forces have grown shy since women
took to finance. And l should hardly
know how to find a ghost, just now,
short of engaging Mr.. Lawson, of Bos-
ton, to go out and catch me one" -
New York Sun,