Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1917-11-30
Story Telling Ail,nent.

Last night Rheard this story: Al
Hwoman who hMea in York. place. in
kChicago had knitted a sweater for her
EsOn at the 'front.'. She senseted a, $40
Ebill in the fssaricof the gaganent and
sgave it to the Red Cross ko,fDrWard-
la while latey she saMons- wearing the
Rsweater. The Wearer had purchased 1T
Efrom the Red Cross TheA woman b0
pbe certain THAT the sweater was the
Tone she had knitted, opemed the fab-
Ilric and found the bill. This stoGY, ].
with some Modification off detail. isl
Ebeing circulst all over, the country.
/ A few weeks ago daily paper Car
fried it and several stories to discre6i6
1.-THE Ameaican Red Cross, calling at
ftention to the falsness eff them.
About six years ago a story relative
to leprosy went the rounds. Some girl
Tor gronp of girls bad contraetsd
leprosy froEa, handling artificial hair,
principallN the coarse Chinese hsiEs.
The story had certain aarmarks. ghe
relator knaw a person MNing at a ee1+
tain number on a certain street who
had seen the leper or lepers.
The Chicago health department de-
tailed an epidemiologist to run down
the storI- He startedlwith the person
who brought the stony to the Office.
The person had not seen the aper,
but Mrs Blank at such an address
had sean her. When Mrs Blank was
visited she replied that she had told
the story. No, she had not seen the
leper, but Mr.. SMith of a certain
address had. Mr.. Smith when visited
lstated the story and believed I'm it. No,
he had not seen the leper, but Mrs.
Henry Of John street had.
And SO the epidemiologist went
from house to house for a couple of
weeks chasing the will-o'-tlae wisp.
He was always just one person away
from the person who had seen the
gleper
Note that each relator believed the
| story and gave detailed information
as to just where he had heard it and
| just who had seen the leper. Strangely, I
the story did not grow or even change
much as 1T was being fetailed.
The question is what type of men-i
tai disease or mental infirmity does
the wide diffusion of this type of story
Indicate ? Every one who hears it is |
willing to pass it on. Some appear to |
gloat in passing it on. The desire to
believe and pass on is not a result of
insanity. A majority OF the peosle are
affected and majority of the people
cannot be convicted Of insanity. Be-
Sides the story is not materially |
changed in the telling. Clearly, insan-
| ity is not factor. There is, for one
thing, a mild infusion of malicious
ness. The creator of the story was
clearly malicious. The retailers are
only slightly so.
They are willing TODD a little sly,
undetermined harm, but they are not
willing to go far along that line. They
| have caution, are somewhat lacing in
courage They are willing to believe
| evil and are willing to help on the
work a little. Although we cannot
convict them of insanity in any sense,
or Of any considerable degree of ma
| liciousness, we can convict them of a
lack OF pOise, common sense, and
shrewdness. They are willing to ac-
cept statement and to sponsor it
without proper Investigation or care
fully Weighingit They will accept
the coin without biting or ringing it
or giving it the once over"
| A study of the spread of such stor-
les furnishes a chance to look in on
the popular mind; to glimpse mob
psychology. 1t indicates aWidespread,
mild, mental sickness, though not a
a very severe mental malady.
CATHOLIC CITIZEN.