The Washington times., 1914-03-10
No Fairies, Says Poet Yeats,
But Spiritisn1 Is Real Logic;
Declares Yeats, the Scientist
FEW GNOMES EXIST
IN GREATER CITIES
Says Gentry Are More Numer.
GUS Where Population Is
Less Concentrated.
Do you believe in fairiess

Do you believe in fairies>
Oh, yes, Won did that night the
eE-lke Maude Adams trippet
down to the foolights and eoyl,
put the question to you in the mys'
tic name of "Peter Pan" and his
tribe.
But on the cod gray damn Of the
morning after, and for epey-da,
knock-about use, do YOU believe
in fairiess
William Butler Yeats does. But
there are fairies, and fairies, ana
the Yeats fairies may not be the
kind you mean. Thereby hangs
this story.
By J. R. HILDEBRAND.
A poet must have a hobby. He
needs it to keep hi: h'et on the
ground This is base. the wel-
known theory that w-al goes up
must come down. When a poets i'm
agination has been roaming the
Oiympian heights too long he needs
ballast. something to bring him back
to earth, a sort of drag anchor to
keep him from drifting too far from
the sphere OF cod facts, which mixes
a metaphor. but expresses the idea
So. at an early age, William Butler
Yeats. poet pickeo out such q hobby.
He armed himself with a test tube.
an instrument to measure blood
pressure, considerab information
about cerebral reaction. and set
out on the prosaic business Of max
ing a scientific study of fairies.
Poet Wakes Wroth-
With Mr.. Yeats this is a delicate
subject. A New York interviewer
announced tina. Mr. Yeats believed In
fairies. The poet was indignant.
He did not want himself put down
as a sentimentalist- At the New Will
lard Hotel today he denied he said
he believed in fairies. Then he
talked Tor half an hour TO prove
that he does.
With the poet this fairy matter 10
not poetry. He takes q scientific in
teresi in fairies. He is proud OF
being a poet. But he does not want
his poetry mixed with 30 exact and
scientific a subject as fairies.
Work Good OF Ill.
Noah Webster, VINO did not shine
as an authority on fairies. defines
one as "a non-human beiLg, ordinar-
ily of small and graceful form. but
capable Of assuming any shape and
of working good or Il to mankind"
Mr.. Yeats, who has been looking
into tAis fairy business for twenty
years. says a fairy is "a creature Of
secondary. or sometimes tertiary
personality. more likely I" be created
in the mind Of one whose normal
consciousness has not oeen develop
ed by continuous human inter-
course"
So, while one should be perfectly
willing 70 quote Mr.. Yeats as say
ing there 'ain't no such animal,
one must arrive at the conclusion.
him. that ae firmly. deYoutly and
earnestly believes in fairies.
Has Reason To Care.
Mr Yeats has reason to be care
fuI On this point. While writing
poetry. or what he modestly prefers
to term VERSE;" he does not mnd
throwing In gobiins. pixies, CT
Gnomes by the wholesale.
But In his side-line as a scientific
psychic research worker. he has TO
be more CAREFUL.
For he has established a reputation
in that direction as we'll. has writ
ten several books on the subject, gnd
has made a serious and exhaustive
study OF the folklore VI western ire
land which deals largely with the
Celtic traditions regarding the fairy
tribe.
There lis not a Whit OF difference, In
Mr. Yeats opinion. betwecn the
faculties of the Tr sh ploH man. who
believes in fairies for the good and
sound reason that he has seen them
(or thinks he has. which aTounts to
the same thing, and the pfych!c re-
search workers. Of London. or Bos-
ton, who are Concerned about a