Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-20
THE SMELL OF The LIVING
How Much Unnecessary Annoyance is
Laid on Ghosts.
NEW THOUGHT FOR sPoOKERs

Detail of Spirit Communication which
Has Eluded Societies of PSYCHE
cal Research, hut Is known
60 snvnEes.
Somehow or other the ghosts have sell
dom met with fair play. They squeak and
gibber in the Roman street, on business.
In moated grange and ancestral manor
house they moan and clank their chains,
specific performance of contract. As the
white lady Of the house OF Hohenzollern
they appear in solemn warning to reign
ing princess, It is their duty.
What manner Of reception do they meet?
Humanity always says, What a nuisance
these ghosts are!" Humanity has other
symptoms-horrlpilation is the succinct
term for them in scientific Technology;
gooseflesh, hair standing on end, voice
sticking I'm the gullet, trembling at the
Knees, sinking at the pit Of the stomach
In other words the yellow streak. That's
what ghosts do to men.
But the instinct Of fairness demands the
Inquiry into the feelings Of the ghosts
toward men. Live ones are quite as OBJ
jectionable to dealers. Thus only can
any school of psychological Interpretation
account for the conduct of the spooKs
when the entranced and inspired medium
in bringing them down to the earth plane.
It's no such great pleasure to the spirits
to be in touch with so many humans all
alive. They resent it as best they may;
the flick Of an icy hand is a mark of dis
approval, the groans from the cabinets are
but so many signs of disgust.
If Little Bright Eyes and Sagamore John
and Katy King and the rest Of the spirit.
con4r,Ig NH, 40 e,,,b q I,orotIvo h1teiYacs
in mystery could only be brought to tell
the truth they would make IT clear that
the living are highly Objectionable to those
who have passed over.
Particularly obnoxious seems to be the
smell of life.
object to Our OdOr.
This appears to be a new contribution
to the knowledge Of spirit phenomena. It
rests not upon the complied data of The
societies for psychical research, but upon
the intimate acquaintance of simple folk
who live closer to the spirits than those
of wider culture are quite willing 10
acknowledge. The clearest disclosure
of this important fact is in the beliefs of
the rude people of New Britain, whose
faith has just become a matter Of study.
You are going about your ordinary bust
ness in the jungle. Somebody says a word
of greeting, some equivalent of howdedo
or good morning. You start to bring your
spear into action, or your club, as you
would do ordinarily when some stranger
passed the time Of day; it's sweet to be
an~thropophagous and have your dinner
come to you on the hoof, and a merry
fight in settlement Of the initial uncer-
tainty as to whether you dine or are dined.
But it proves to be a ghost which greets
you and not q potential food supply.
So you and the ghost get quite chummy.
No horripilatlon in your case, for you are
but a simple savage man and have not
advanced beyond words of one syllable,
certainly not beyond two syllabled ideas.
All day long you and the sociable ghost
so proving through the jungle, obser-
wing the beauties of nature and things
in general.
When evening comes you turn toward
home, for, even If you haven't found my
! body to eat, the women will have fish and
yams and bananas and cocoanut puddings
baking in the oven, and the hot cobbles
will not be forked out of the smoking
pit until the head of the house comes back,
Going TO Mt the Ghosts.
In parting from the companion of your
days wanderlngs you find that the ghost
has taken quite a fancy to you. He in
vites to better acquaintance.
Suppose you come down with me some
time" he says, "and meet the rest of
the fellows"
Fine" says you in savage courtesy
nothing would give me greater pleasure
"Why not come now?" the ghost asks
and having absolutely nothing that ever
really must be done from your first birth
day until you become a ghost yourself
you are perfectly willing.
First off run home and get some fist
or a piece of pig" the ghost directs. I'm
not inhospitable, but living folks can
eat our stuff, and you'll have TO bring
your own"
So you stuff a green cocanut baske
with a light collation., eight or ten pounds
of whatever the women have cooked
You and the friendly ghost set Off to
gether. Just where you go is not quit
distinct. but it's somewhere down belov
the suface Of things.
When you two get there the other spirit
have not yet come back to ghostland
Your host blows up the smouldering fir
and bids you make yourself quite at home
showing you a place where you can 81
and be in nobody's way, or rather in N
spirits way, Then the rest of the ghost
come trooplng in from their day on In
earth plane.
They open the shadowy baskets Of thei
peculiar food, the mat plates are heape
high and a pleasant spiritual time is unde
way. You, off in your corner, are gorgin
on pork and pudding and thinking to YOU
self how much better it is to be alive.
Suddenly one Of the ghosts stops eatinl
others look up in wild surmise, some on
shifts, and then all are sniffing, the ghosI
house air.
/; Il smell a live one" squeaks one Of til
ghosts.
80 do l." another; 80 do we ALL"
All except your host, Not so, brothers
, Are you not here in your own ]ghosthous
, in ghostland? There's no live one her
there cannot be-"
=. But we all smell a live one!' they cry.
That's easy replies your own particl
lar ghost. Il was pretty close to the house
: up above today end l must have carrie
i away some of the life smell with me; it
! pretty strong, you KNOW
But the other ghosts are alarmed, the
o refuse TO be pacifled by the reasonab
explanation. Their eyes, dead eyes, a
a not good enough to see you, but the
n noses are keen, they smell the live on
o the reek OF life nauseates and affrigh
{ them. They float unanimously away
- tk, 1arlr