The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1936-11-13

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appeared. Doctor Breeding sat at
one end of the table, the Professor
at the other; for Professor Carlisle
had filled the pipe which he pre-
ferred to a cigar, and the Doctor
had no desire to come near the
source of that scent so offensive to
his nostrils.
For little, nothing was said.
Then Doctor Breeding remembered
| certain matters almost forgotten;
| and he said, making his tone casu-
al:
professor, Mrs. Breeding tells
me that you gave her, that evening
at the Jordans', quite a lecture on
poltergeists. She had so much to
say about it that l came home and
read up on the subject myself. Do
you seriously think there is any
truth in these tales?"
Professor Carlisle smiled family.
''I should hardly expect you to ac-
cept them,' he confessed.
Doctor Breeding chuckled. "But
I'm not completely incredulous," he
protested. 81 had friend once who
confessed to some personal expert
ences of the sort"
Professor Carlisle looked at him
with new interest. He said, at
hazard: eft has often seemed to
me that an open-minded physician
must observe in his practice many
things not easily explained by any
medical formula"
Doctor Breeding nodded. ''That
is true" he said. 81 do remember
occasions when things seemed to go
unusually well, in the course of an
operation; when my fingers were
successful without my minds being
fully conscious of the sources of that
success. For instance, there was
man with a crushed and lacerated
arm, necessitating amputation; it
was during my days at the City,
on relief work. An artery tore loose
and retracted into the upper arm.
Ordinarily, this means swift and
extensive dissection in order to
catch the end of the vessel and
check the hemorrhage. I did it in
a matter of seconds; and even now,
don't know just how it was done.
The artery seemed almost to thrust
itself into my reach"
He continued: "But / wasn't re-
ferring to any experience of my
own. This friend of mine" He
hesitated guardedly. ''Well, you
know the old belief, Professor, that
to be born under caul was lucky.
This chap was born under caul;
and think he was always secretly
little proud of the fact, feeling
that he was set apart from other
men by that circumstance"
The Professor smiled. "He wasn't
also, by any chance, the seventh
son of a seventh SOM" he suggested
in ironic amusement.
Doctor Breeding chuckled. "No.
An only child" he admitted; and he
went on:
eve grew up on adjoining farms,
and if there are poltergeists, I sus-
pect that he was one. I remember
that when he was boy, if he was
left alone in room, something
was apt to fall and break. OF
course, he was always blamed, and
punished. His father used to say
he whipped this youngster not for
breaking the thing in question, but
for lying about it afterward."
Professor Carlisle commented:
"Boys have lied before, and will
again."
"I know" Doctor Breeding adj
mitted stubbornly. "But this boy al
ways denied, even to me, that he
had done the things for which he
was blamed. remember once we
were haying, on a hot day in July;
and they put us in the NOW to stow
the hay, and the hay caught fire.
The barn, in fact, burned to the
ground. Fortunately, it was small
hay-barn, across the road fl ON the
house, used only for storage, and
the loss was not serious. But there
again, he was blamed. They insist
ed that he had lighted a match, or
done some other folly" He chuck
led. "He bore the welts of that af-
fair for days." he said; and he
asked: "Isn't this the stuff potter
geists are made off"
L