Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 61, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1917 — Page 3

The Tracer of Egos

Chronicles of Dr. Phileas Immaiuel, Soul Specialist

A FISHER FOR SOULS

LET me begin,by saying that my own interpretation of this story will not find credence. Paul Tarrant, the millionaire, agrees with me heartily in this. “The only way in which you can give to the world a clear account of our dear friend Immanuel’s miraclemongering,’’ he said, “is to put the rationalistic interpretation on it Now in this case, for example, do you really believe that it is possible for a man and a woman to exchange personalities and keep them, like two people exchanging pairs of ill-fitting shoes? How can you write an account of that for any medical magazine? “But,” he resumed, “assuming that he only hypnotized each and that the effects produced a radical alteration In the soul of each —that is all right. Write it that way, my boy.” I have written it neither way. ' 1 have merely set down the facts. I •draw no inferences; that is nd task of mine. . “I have a remarkable case coming to see me this evening,” said Phileas Immanuel, the Greek physician, to Paul Tarrant and myself, as we foregathered round the fire in his cosy library. “It’s a woman, and one of the handsomest women I have ever seen. Picture a-queen in figure, poise, and intelligence, twenty-five years of age, superbly educated, of the best family in Virginia,- and—hopelessly degenerate.’’ “Are not most women of that kind handsome?” I asked. “The newspapers seem to claim that.” Tarrant burst into a laugh and even the serious little doctor smiled. "No, no, my boy,” answered Immanuel. “If you will examine your daily newspapers you will find that it is the notorious women who are "Tianclsome.’ ~ This woman —Ada Gabelle —is a born criminal. She is not altogether bad; for instance, she possesses the marked criminal trait of loyalty. But she has been turned out and disowned by tier family because she is an incurable thief, a forger, a wilful planner of crime. She is believed to have had a class of youthTuT criminals under her wing. She Is, in fact, a savage born by mistake, into our twentieth century civilization. As Queen of the Zulus or an Amazon Princess among the Borneo head-hunters she would make a name for herself. But here she seems likely to end her days in prison.” “How did you get her'to promise to visit you?” asked Tarrant. “Through Captain Clough, of the Salvation Army,” answered the doctor “You ought to know Clough. He is a little, misshapen fellow, with all the physical stigmata of degeneracy—in fact, he looks just as Ada ought to look and doesn’t. And he is one of the finest fellows on earth. He, too, is of a good family, and he gave up everything to follow the Army and do good. He has literally followed Our Savior’s command to sell all and follow Him. Now, in spite of her long, criminal career, Ada has always ‘got away with’ her crimes till jecently, by was only after her latest exploit that she fell into the clutches of the law. Clough was interested in her —to be frank, he seems to be madly in love with her. He secured a suspended sentence and has promised to bring her to me this evening, and Ada has given her word.” “Which she will keep?” I asked. Th* doctor nodded his head. “That type always keeps its word,” he answered. “As I told you, Ada has many good qualities —only she was born wrong. The criminal and degenerate type are not abnormal, Tarrant,” he said, turning to our friend. “They are simply lower or undeveloped orders - that should have come into the world as negro savages or Australians. Instead of which they aimed too high—and, as a result, they fall too low. But never mind my theories. I have in mind an [experiment tonight which I have never tried before.” He stopped and looked at Tarrant gravely; he was considering whether 2 or not to tell him. “I may as well let you know,” he continued. “I want to change Clough to Ada and Ada to Clough.” “Turn —u man into a —woman!” shouted the millionaire. “My dear Immanuel, this is going too far. You’ll be turning me into a horse some day, as they did in the Arabian Nights." “No, no, Paul,” said the doctor smiling. "Trty only transposed the soul of the man and that of the horse: If it comes to that, I believe something of the kind happened, in a limited degree, with an old Sunday School friend of ours called Balaam’s donkey, didn’t it? But you are off the track. What I mean is, that I Intend to hypnotize each of them and tell the Captain that he is Ada, and the lady that she is the Captain. That is a. common enough trick of the professional hypnotist—only it doesn’t last after they wake up. “Now my theory is that all criminals are in a continuous condition of auto-hypnosis That is to say, they de not realize in themselves their full personality. If that is the case, I he-

B Y VICTOR ROUSSEAU

lleve I can make the process permanent with Miss Gabelle. And as for Clough, he is the true criminal type physically, and somewhere there must be a mental correspondence. The soul, Tarrant, is sexless. If these two souls have got into the wrong pigeonholes, why not sort them out and put them away again?” "Preposterous,” answered Tarrant angrily. “You can’t do it, Immanuel. I grant you may make each think he is the other—but that’s as far as you can get.” '“As a man thinks, so he is.” quoted the Doctor softly, and just then the bell rang and we waited breathlessly until the couple entered. Although we had been, in a measure prepared by the Doctor’s announcement, I was startled almost into exclamation by the contrast which they presented. Imagine a woman of great star ture; yet not too tall for her magnificent proportions, statuesque, and moving with an easy grace which would have attracted notice in any drawingroom. Add a wealth of dark hair, a pair of magnificent eyes, just now glancing with amused scorn at the little, misshapen figure at her side, the bust of a Juno, the hand of a Venus, a gown of the most fashionable cut —stolen, I have every reason to believe; imagine all this and then picture her companion'. He stood perhaps five feet three. The hump on his left shoulder was clearly perceptible, and, as with most hunchbacks, his legs were abnormally long. His sallow face was Irregular, his ears protruding, his features had all the asymmetry of the degenerate; the only thing that saved him from repulsiveness and even added a certain dignity, was the pair of thoughtful brown eyes that looked up with intense compassion at the regal figure beside him. "Well, my dear Doctor,” said Miss Gabelle, seating herself with easy assurance, “we have come, you see, as we promised. Though precisely why we have done so I do not know, except that I felt I owed some little return to Captain Clough for his kindness to me.” “Allow me to present you,” said Immanuel to each of us, and we were formally introduced. It was quite evident that Miss Gabelle intended to set the tone of the evening’s proceedings in accordance with the customs of her upbringing, and she certainly dominated the meeting. “Miss Gabelle,” said Immanuel, making a slight bow, “Captain Clough has brought you here strictly as a patient. You will permit me, therefore, to discuss your case as a pure abstraction, without reference to your feelings—which I shall endeavor not to hurt.” “By all means,” answered the lady, showing her white teeth in a smile. “Now, Captain, will you enlighten us as to the cause of this visit?” asked the Doctor. "Assume that the matter has never before been spoken of, you know. That will start us off in the best way.”

Captain Clough arose and stood besidethe DQCtor. When .be spoke his body seemed shaken by emotion. “Yes, I’ll tell you why we are here, gentlemen,” he said. “Miss Gabelle has most kindly consented to my bringing her to Dr. Immanuel to see whether her case can be diagnosed. I would say that I have come to Doctor Immanuel because ■< I know him to be a thoroughly Christian man, and I know that his healing is not through his own power but held as a humble trust for One greater than he.” “Now, Captain," said Miss Gabelle archly, “isn’t tfiat trade jargon? Isn’t it?” She. shook her finger at him reprovingly. "Our dear sister here,” the Captain resumed, "has been very sorely afflicted. I cannot think that she is predestined to be lost. And yet —and yet—” "Now I’ll finish it,” Miss Gabelle Interrupted. “Gentlemen, the cose before you is utterly destitute of any moral sense. I have no conscience—[ don’t know what it means—never had any. I know that it isn’t right to go back on a friend, or tolet a fellowbeing starve when one has food. But that’s a sort of natural feeling. The Ten Commandments are not. They tell me I mustn't steal. Why mustn’t I steal? If I want something which somebody else has, why shouldn’t I take it?" "The law of the jungle,” interposed the Doctor. “Well —yes,” she said. “They tell me I mustn’t lie. Why mustn’t I lie if it is to my advantage; Why mustn’t I put someone’s else name to a check if I can? I don’t owe society anything. If I possessed the power— lL would break society. That’s alt You see I’m hopeless, don’t you? ; “No,” answered Immanuel. "Not by any means. The trouble with you, Madam, is that you are a pure savage. You have the moral sense all right, but it has never emerged’’out of the dark sub-cellar* of your personality into your consciousness. That’s all. And I believe that I can bring it up and restore to you that which you lack—and peed.*._'__jZ ; _i— \

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND. _ A ———————————————————■———■

"How, my dear Doctor?” "If you will let me hypnotixe you—” "Now that’s very interesting. ' But how do I know that you won’t find out my secrets? For instance, if I were to tell you some things—” - “I give you my word of honor.” "No, Doctor,” said Miss Gabelle, shaking her head. “You can’t do that to me. I’m a fool in some things, but here I draw the line." “But surely, Madam—" "No use,” she answered. "Hypnotize the Captain and let him go down and look for my moral sense, if be can find any. Won’t that do?" Captain Clough came forward rihrhr the middle of the room and stood with band upheld, a dramatic figure, in spite of his physical insignificance. "It isn’t right,” he said. “I know that. But I know what you have done with others. Doctor. I’ll do it. I’ll sacrifice my soul to save my sister here. I ask God. to. help me save her.” The words sounded tame enough, but they thrilled me. I saw that Tarrant was equally moved. But Miss Gabelle was laughing. JjWell, I won’t spoil the’sport," she said lightly. “Go ahead, Doctor, and see what you canted "Don’t think that you will lose your soul, Captain,” said Immanuel gravely. “On the contrary, if I thought for one moment that I was doing evil I would never practice again. Come, make your mind easy and sit down in that chair. Now fold your hands and com-' pose yourself.” Clough took his seat and Immanuel went to a chest and brought back a small instrument consisting of a kind of glass ball, suspended from a chain. The chain terminated in a common corded wire and socket, which he attached to the electric light fixture. He turned the switch and instantly the ball began revolving with tremendous rapidity. "This,” he explained, "is merely a little Invention of my own, designed to facilitate the faculty of attention. There’s nothing wonderful about it; I could get the same results less quickly by simply holding the ball in my hand

“THE TROUBLE WITH YOU, MADAM. IS THAT YOU ARE A PURE SAV* AGE. YOU HAVE THE MORAL SENSE ALL RIGHT, BUT IT HAS NEVER EMERGED OUT OF THE DARK SUB-CELLAR OF YOUR PERSONALITY INTO YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS."

—or a teacup, for the matter of that Now look at it fixedly, Captain, and let your mind remain passive.” I saw Clough’s eyes fix as he stared at. the revolving ball. My own grew heavy; I was becoming hypnotized myself. With difficulty I withdrew them and watched the Captain’s face, Immanuel drew nearer and held the ball within a few inches of his forehead. “Don’t take your eyes off it,” he said soothingly. “Now, do you notice how sleepy you are growing? That is the first stage. You will be asleep in a moment. You are almost asleep now. You cannot keep your eyes open any longer.” Clough’s eyes closed. He did not move. “Now you are asleep.” continued the Doctor. “Your mind is active but your senses are in abeyance. You cap neither see r hear, taste, smell, nor touch, And yet you understand me perfectly. Now you are gleeping profoundly.” The figure grew rigid in the chair. Dr. Immanuel detached the plug from the fixture, having snapped off the switch. Leisurely he crossed the room and put the mechanism sway. “Now, Captain,” he continued, turning toward the sleeping man and taking his seat beside him, "you are alone in the world with Miss Gabelle. “Heaven preserve me!” said Miss Gabelle tartly. Tarrant glanced at her indignantly, but the Doctor only smiled indulgently. “Do you see her?” he asked of Clough. "Yes, I see her," he answered. "But you do not see all of her. What is missing?” “Her soul is missing.” “Where is it, then?" Immanuel asked. *' ■■■' ' •

"I don’t know.* "Go and look for it” There was no answer, but suddenly Clough pitched sidewise out of his chair. The Doctor caught him. He held %im under the arms and raised them. The arms remained in the air. rigid as steel. Clough was in the last and deepest hypnotic state, the cataleptic. His face was distorted; to my mind it had taken on somehow, ip some measure, the aspect* of the woman’s. * “Look at her!" exclaimed Tarrant suddenly. • I jumped round with a start. Used as I was to seeing hypnotized'patients in my hospital—in fact I had performed that function myself with indifferent success —I had never seen the cataleptic condition. Now, with my nerves tingling, I looked toward Miss Gabelle. She had fallen back in her chair, her eyes closed, her face deathly white. But for the faint stirring of her breast I might have thought her dead. “Where is it?” asked Immanuel of the Captain, and there came no answer at all to his question, nor when he repeated it. Immanuel got up and stood staring at him in perplexity. "He’s got beyond my power,” he said, In tones which indicated something like terror. "I never had this happen before.” He turned to me. “What would you advise?" he asked. He shook him. “Clough! Clough!” he called. “Wake up!" But there WSg no response. I took the Captain’s hand in mine and felt his pulse. It fluttered with alarming irregularity and it must have been a hundred and forty. I rushed over to the woman. She was in the same condition; she seemed to be moribund. - ■ - “You had 'better go home,- gentlemen,” said the Doctor to us, very much agitated. “I shall have to notify the police if anything happens.” “Something is happening,” I answered, gazing curiously at the Captain’s face. I might have been looking at Miss Gabelle’s, for that expression which I had noticed was deepening; it was like watching the anima-

tion of a statue. I hurried to the woman’s side. Was it imagination, or did she look like ’Clough? "She -certainly does look like Clough,” said Tarrant apparently reading my thoughts. “But you did not even tell him that you meant them to assimilate,” I said to Immanuel. “I was thinking it, though,” he answered. Minutes passed, and the Captain’s pulse grew stronger. All danger was disappearing. But the catalepsy continued. And Miss Gabelle, lying with her head over the side of the chair, one hand resting on ai£ one foot extended as though a pillow supported it, whereas there was nothing—she was as deeply entranced as he. Immanuel motioned to us to sit down again and addressed the Captain again. “You have-had a deep sleep,” he said. “What did you find? Where is Miss Gabelle?” There was no answer. Immanuel placed the figure more comfortably in the chair. The color had come back into the cheeks, and, as I watched, 1 saw the arms suddenly fall. Simultaneously the woman’s foot went down, the heel striking the hardwood floor with a perceptible thud. “Wake up!” said the Doctor sharply, and suddenly each of them sat bolt upright and Innfred around in wonder. Then, to my horror, I saw that they moved like marionettes; each of them made precisely the same movement at precisely same time. • And theirtaces were curiously similar. Of course, -the figures had not changed, but each had the aspect of a normal person. The expression of deep religion, the almost sanctiiponious look of the Salvationist was gone; so was the woman’s sneering store. And as each rose and moved

round the room, looking at the furniture with a sort of bewildered interest, I became aware that neither seemed to know that any other person was in the room. Nor did they seem conscious of each other’s presence. They kept about two paces apart and moved as though strung on a single cord. When one approached the window, so did the other. W’hen one sat down again the other followed suit. Immanuel looked at them as hopelessly as we. He pushed Clough gently down upon the sofa, and Instantly Miss Gabelle crouched near him, in the same posture, but—sitting on air. “Immanuel,” shouted Tarrant, thoroughly scared, “I’m not going to sit and watch this Infernal nonsense of -yours. In my opinion it is all a plan. Give your actors their money and send them home.” The two pairs of eyes turned slowly in his direction. Immanuel saw it at once. It was the first sign that they had given of "taking notice,” as we say of a child. “Sit down, Tarrant,” I exclaimed, pushing him into a chair. "It’s coming out all right. Don’t be a fool. Immanuel got beyond his depth, that’s all. Look! ” It was as if someone had cut that wire with shears, for, while Clough still sat rigid on the sofa, Miss Gabelle suddenly sank upon the floor, Immanuel raised her and put her in the armchair which she had occupied. As shei mbvedT saw Clough’s ar ms and legs move also in feeble imitation. But there was none of that exactly timed, clock-work-like automatism. Then the woman sighed deeply and openedher eyes. Simultaneously Clough rose weakly from the sofa and came toward us. “Doctor,” he said, "I wonder whether you would let me postpone the fulfillment of the promise I gave you. I feel so weak all es a sudden —I think I shall have to go home.” "What promise, Captain?” asked Immanuel sharply. “The promise I have just made you,” he said. “I don’t object to your hypnotizing me, if you think it will benefit Miss Gabelle, but not tonight” Miss Gabelle suddenly laughed, and it was tife clear, ringing laugh of an innocent girl. “Now, Doctor,” she protested, “between ourselves, do you think your experiment is going to do any good? I’m sure there is nothing the matter with me. What was it you proposed to do?” Tarrant bounded forward out of his chair and positively glared at her. “Do you mean to tell us you don’t know that the experiment has been performed?” he asked. “Or is that part of the game?” Miss Gabelle rose up and looked at him indignantly. “I don’t know what game you refer to, Mr. Tarrant,” she answered, “but if any experiment has been performedduring “the five minutes that I have been in this room, then, all I can say is I must have been asleep without knowing it” Tarrant backed out of the range of those indignant eyes. - Miss Gabelle turned to the Captain. “You shall take me home now,” she said, “if you feel well enough. Do you? You know, youhavetorb® At that big Salvationist meeting tomorrow morning.” She seemed to speak with real concern. “Salvationist meeting?” queried Clough in perplexity. “O, yes, to be sure. But, Miss Gabelle, didn’t I tell you that I was going to sever my connection with the organization? It’s not that I don’t believe in it, of course, but still—well, its appeal is a littls limited, isn’t it? Between you and me, I can do more good in the field of organized charity.” I noticed that she was clinging to his arm as they left the room. Tarrant looked at Immanuel when they had gone. He stared and stored. Then, without a word, nd clapped on his hat and left the room. And there you have the story. As I have said, looked at one way it is a simple matter of- scientific interest.

LOOKED AROUND IN WONDER.

One Effect of the War on the Women of France Is to "Americanize” Them. In a general way one might say that the war has tq some extent Americanized the women of France. That in the sense of our current expression “a I’Americaine,” it has given her more freedom of action, more independence mated —especially as far as young girls are concerned—many little couventions which really tended to become 1 less rigorous anyway, but which the strong winds of the last two years* happenings have entirely blown away. Some twenty years ago the daughters of good families began to acquire the right to take a walk without * chaperone, something unheard-of, unimaginable, to their mothers. NoW they fare forth unattended to the hospitals, to their works of charity, which have multiplied greatly during the war. But it is their relations to the young men that have undergone the most radical changes. Mademoiselle keeps up a correspondence with her “godsons” and with her childhood friends in the army. The ever-present thought that these young men may at any moment vanish out of the world has rendered them inexpressibly more dear td everyone, and so parents have accorded this liberty which tradition up t« now had refused.—Cartoons Magazine,

Eleven Women Legislate.

Figures in- the hands of the National American Woman Suffrage association show that there were 11 women st desks in the lower bouses of five different states, in ,1917: Washington has one, Mrs. -Ina |P. Williams (Rep.) ; Montana two,’ Mrs. Maggie Smith [ Hathaway (Dem.), Mrs. Emma A. Ingalls (Rep.) ; Arizona three, Mrs. Rosa McKay (Dem.), Mrs. George B. Marsh (Dem.), and Mrs. Pauline O’Neil (Dem.); Utah four, Mrs. Elizabeth T. Hayward (Dem.), Mrs. Grace StrattooAirey (Dem.). Mrs. Daisy C. Allen (Dem.), Mre. Alma Greenwood (Dem.); Oregon one, Mrs. Alexander Thompson (Dem.). Nine of the eleven are Democrats and two Republicans.

The trouble with modern society is its operations make too many sweet little girls think they are happy when they are only excited.—-Houston Pent* , ' . ■,L . - ■ ', ,•

But, looked at in another, it Is a modern miracle. Immanuel gave me his version the next day, when I called to question him and found Tarrant already there. “My explanation is,” said the Doctor, “that the one was all soul and the other all body. And Clough, by reason of his great love for her, did what Orpheus is fabled to have done for Eurydice; he went down into hell and found her again. You know, those myths all have some psychological meaning. I imagine that he got to that region where all souls are merged in the world-soul, which we call God, and that there he gave her, what she lacked, out of his superfluity. Tbat’4 all; as you know, it got beyond my control?* ■ “Or,” hazarded Tarrant, "perhaps the power of imagination stirred her" better nature into activity.” “If you prefer to put it that way,** replied the Doctor. And they were married, of course, and lived together with mutual devo — tion. As Tarrant says, Nature knows her own purposes and usually manages to even things up somehow. If J have given the impression that Clough became Ada Gabelle and she Clough, I must correct IL It was more like an equalization, a sort of equipoise between two unequal natures which found their own level. But then, as Tarrant says, you never know just how much of a part imagp iuatlon plays. (Copyright by W. G. Chapman.) y ~

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