The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-03-16

w AShlNGION, March 16.-"Why
don't you interview ouija?" ascied a
friend the other day.
We thought it over Our relations
with weegee have always been rather
distant. We have met at parties and
at the homes of ouija fans. But al
ways we have passed the time of day
in a few trifling queries, and let it go
at that. Certainly, we never expected
TO start interviewing spirit celebrities
SO long as the earthly supply held out.
stu, we reflected, there. were advan-
once cornered, could not plead a pre-
vious engagement or a conference and
judging by his reputation he would
have a lot to say.
So we decided to borrow a staid. seri
s-minded old ouija and ask him
about the Sims Daniel scrap, and who
ought to be the next president, and if
there were any messages from cousin
Lon, who IS either dead or in Chicago.
ne knew the very board to borrow. 1t
belongs to an elderly lady who goes in
Tor higher thought and concentration,
and undoubtedly her ouja has never
been asked silly question in it's life.
The old lady promptly offered to get
the board, and also a book on how to
get the best results with ouidja We
hauled ouija home, corraled a friend
ting arranged, settled down for the in
terview.
FIRST, however, we read the book
carefully. We found out that the solar
pleXus--that never sleeping brain of the
lhdivdual--is the switchboard or re-
celVlng station for the messages" We
also discovered that the great secret
why some individuals can successfully
use the board and some can not Is that
hn, an
speak, diseasedly sensitive solar
pieXus. That worried US, as our solar
plexus has always been pretty healthy
and we feared the message germs might
not have any effect. For a while we
held on to the hope that maybe the
writer was mistaken about the solar
pleXus being the brain of the soul, but
further on we found that ouija himself
had told her THE solar plexus Is the
spiritual brain" With this inside in
formation and a warning that to get
best results you must think high
thoughts We invited little weegee" to
| the interview.
Fer the property of higher thought
sort of person this ouija board certainly
had remarkable line Of talk and in
teresting opinions. 1t told us that
| there would be big war in 1882, that
ouija meant spirits, andfit advised US
to forget it, when we politely inquired
II II had message for us.
After a rest it condescended to tell
us that Aunt Harriet, who died some
years ago, is very happy. but when we
asked for Dumas to come and tell us
who was the man in the iron mask, it
! wouldn't write anything except, They
| don't answer"
When we returned the board we COM
mented on the rather flippant attitude
/ it seemed TO have. We'll" said the old
DIV ri ri
Its the maids board"
Having talked to little weegee" we
decided to find out something about
his life history. The messenger at the
, patent office was frankly amused at our
/ mission.
| "Weejah?" he repeated with a huge
grin; "Iassuh. Try de toy division,
sub
The toy division was also moved to
J laughter over the password but soon
recovered sufficiently for a pleasant
young patent examiner to set out a
! col ecJiun OF the patents.
There are about 81 or 40 patents
along this line" he explained. Some
are ouija hoard type, working by a
| moving index and others ara plan
/ chettes and have a pencil TO write che
message.
The first uuija board, called little
wonder was patented around 1868.
since then, the luSG mas feen adapted
and the board improved by numerous
| inventors, mostly toy makers. The
ouiia board and simia~ inventions can
he patented in the Cni'ed states only
az toS 'rhe VaSens office does not In /.
CuiSe into any mystic properties, and
i, does not permit inventors 70 claim
or describe such properties in their
patent papers,
In England. however, inventors often
60 into detail TO explain the superior
NAL power of such devices. Thus, one
British patentee inserts the following on
his patent;
III the persons or persons are of a
Temperament suitable for the reception
of spritualistic or telepnthic messages,
sentences may be spelled out obtained
from such sources and possibly conveyS
ing information unknown to the oper-
ators: tho larger AumbeE of messages
howeveV, are automatic, !. q, commune
cations from the su6limal Consciousness
Sinding expression tArougn muSculaS
workings controlled On . sneshoS hiShss-
Go Ualy Gmperfectly understood"
What Sloes ouija cream. Hnyway?'
ne asked che pasenS "e'lce, Sos eve have
! beard alt sOrts 81 CaSaiisslc sNEsAsSnSs
attached 80 the queer sNllaSes
'Wel," said an ob'iSing GlnrtO "ths
AamU . trace marked jGss as q SS0rd.
Que We understand that means sea
yes" being derived FROM oui, which is
s're@ch SOe sess end 3ss s5bch ~ Sege
MaA