Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1913-09-18
INSANE ARE CLEVER
Many in AsyIums Earn Excellent
Salaries.
There Are Scores of Lunatics Who
Are Good Artists, and Some of
Them Make Big Incomes by
Their Art-Work, Is
Unreliable.

Unreliable.
Il am sure,' said well-known
mind doctor, in an interview with the
New York Press, you would be
amazed at the clever work that is
done by hundreds Of men and women
who are hopelessly insane. Some of
it at least is as good as that done
by sane people who earn large in
comes.
Among my patients today is one
man whose skill with the brush would
almost surely qualify him for high
rank if he were only in possession of
his senses. There are few Of the
great exhibitions which do not con.
tain one or more of his canvases, and
he has often received as much as $500
for a picture And yet this man is
as mad as halter the victim of
terrible decisions and subject to vio-
lent homicidal attacks.
Naturally, his work is unreliable.
One week he will produce a mastery
and beautiful picture, with genius in
every line Of it. The next he will
paint the most weird picture, per-
feet nightmare in color which, curl.
ously enough he always considers a
masterpiece.
And this man is no exception, for
there are scores Of lunatics who are
quite excellent artists, and many Of
them make good incomes by their art.
Several years ago an exhibition of
pictures, the work OF insane patients
of the Bethlehem Royal hospital, was
open to the public, and | can assure
you many of them are beautiful
works of art
There are hundreds Of other luna
tics who are just as skillful in music
and literature. One of my own pa
tents, who is hopelessly mad on one
subject, and who is a perfect musica
genius, has composed operas ant
symphonies and scores of songs which
have won considerable fame for hin
and have brought him a small fortune
And know of many other insane mel
and women who earn small and reg
ular incomes in the same way.
There are, similarly, hundreds o
the insane who make a hobby, an,
sometimes very profitable one, o
writing. Indeed, many of our asy
: lums have magazines which are a
most entirely the work of the pa
tient9.
81 Even in our public asylums Their
: are hundreds of patients who max
money by skilled work Of one sort 0
i another. Thus, in county asylum
know well one man who does the mos
exquisite water color sketches, fo
: which he receives from SIS to So
J. each, and he has a market for a
O many as he can produce. Unforti
e nately, like SO many mad artists, h
y is often unable or unwilling to fms
e a picture, and thus at least four-fifth
S OF his work is wasted.
: Another patient, former sea cal
: tain, spends his time in making tn
l. most perfect tiny models of ship
, carved with infinite skill and pair
from bone or ivory, for each of whiC
e he gets IS to $40. For one very ella
r crate and beautiful model Of a cath
l. drsl he was paid as much as SIS
o and It was certainly very cheap at Il
" price. A third patient in the san
e asylum. earns many dollars year
y cutting the cleverest silhouettes Of
e. of colored paper.
d. Other patients are equally shll'
lie in a very-wide range OF industrle
n from inventing toys and puzzles
r. making watches and picture frame
and from breeding canaries and mi
* to raising flowers. One very ingenio
al man actually made a clock, with
In other material than pins, buttons, irt
lie bed laths and pieces OF knitting M
dies.
ne THE women, too, are just as clev
&c as the men. ! know one dement,
a woman who writes the most charmi
es books for children, and verses
70. Christmas cards, another who max
ed a good income in her lucid hours,
is illustrating books, and a third W
ri. draws several hundred dollars a ye
g. from royalties on her plays. A
ar there are countless women in G
st public asylums who earn money
go scores of ways, such as knitting, Ia
MS making, straw plating and leatl
20 work"