A LUNATIC COMMUNITY. ^

ANCIENT CITY OF CHEEL HAS A STRANGE REPUTATION.

■>• UbUUk i it — i b* l'«

In Thl. Qaulnt rifinUK MuBlelpBlItr May i*.. tl>« Victim* of Many

■ the KUMta Without ullur Atuiocphcrc.

The ancient city o( Gheel. In Belgium. la getting a reputation of 1U own. Thla la not due to any particular enterprise of the City Fathers, nor to the Industrious activity of the.cUltena Fame descended on Gheel by reason of Its lunatics. Ttoelr-alarm-ing percentage of Increase 4oon raised

Utem to a divided atti

At the present writing sane men are at a premium at Gheel, and the foremost social question of the day la how to deal with the crary man. Amo* the latter not a few maintain that they have solved the problem, asserting that no sane tdan can legislate property In the Interest of the

Insane.

llefs, nor divided'according to sociological standing or preference. The question—the only question asked— is simply: Are you sane or insane? The people among whom you associate in Gheel are supposed to answer that inquiry Into your menu! self, your own opinion not being valued the least. In fact, the Gheel lunatics evince a propensity to go about from door to door .telling people that they are really not craxy. In that qnalnt Flemish city things have often ao mixed socially that you can never be quite certain whether your man Is crary or sane, or whether he has the same doubts about yourself. At Gheel If you go to s bsnquet and entertain the lady at your elbow In some unusual or unconventional manner—say. by cracking a few American Jokes—you run the risk of being stiginatlxed a lunatic. The cause of this is that In Gheel the Insane are allowed to go about at large, as asylums cannot be produced fastenougb to accomodate the Intending "pawnns.” The municipal authorities have evolved a system of their own of dispatching the “not dangernosly Insane” into private families, where they are boarded at the city’s expense. Over 2000 mad dtlrens are thus being cared for to the proflt of the Gheel boarding house keepers, at the same time causing an unusual amount of perplexity and conglomerate Incident among the sane Inhabi-

tants.

Not a few of the latter have been known to lose their wits from constant Intercourse with the freely per-

■pb^Ung .Gheel madmen. As soon as a case like this Is proven the loser of hls-'wlts Is entitled to a pension, inlstltated by the commonwealth with this purpose In view. What a rush of “madmen" and “madwomen" there would be to the city hall cf any American city where such a plan would

be tried!

Among the "popular cases” walking about, the streets of Gheel. lending to It an odd, original and decidedly loca. color, are the man who thinks be ban two left legs, and the sage who believes he can fly. though no wings have as yet materlallxed on his person. If you glance auspiciously at the latter gentleman — Is likely u. approach you on his mettle with a "Well, if you don’t think I can fly you Just stand here and watch me." And ao you aland by. being a tourist and having nothing else to do at' the mo Vent, to watch the gray-halred old feilow Jump from a one-story window to the street. This he calls "flying." To his b£diy-derangcd mind he has In l}a*sing through apace from the wln<low will to the gutter, encompassed 'Sionnous dlstdhces In a planetary flight above the Bousetops.. A rather acute case Is represented by the personage who Insists'on carrying around a crowbar. He has an Plea that no door In the city Is wide enough to let him In. although he is os thin as a rail. If he wishes to enter a place be forthwith attacks the masonry with his crowbar In his effort to make the passage wider. Somehow this man bas failed to make himself' popular with Gheel shopkeepers. There Is an old. distinguished-look-ing professor of biology who is madly insane on Just this one point. He imagines some huge, vamplre-llke butterfly Is constantly following him to

otton, and i the hotte

"ear-flaps” even on the hottest sum-

mer day.

A pathetic Instance of a frail mind gene astray Into the kindergarten of nalye delusions la that of a beautiful young 'girl of a well-known Flemish family, who goes about the streets asking young men to pot her in their pocitts. When asked for what purpose the wishes to reside with hagikefchlrfs. nail files and pocket tarivee. sht says: "Oh. you'sea. I am.a seed. A wcc. llftlo *ee?l. blown kwav from the parent flower In the field. If tou# sparrow should spy me I would •' be (eaten up alive. So please pocket me)" DccbHess young men can be found tn this strange place'who wish fjislr pockets wore large enough -to accommodate the winsome ‘'seed" Gheel has Its "Nansen" and “Dreyfus’’.In the shape of ingenious citizens, who honestly enough believe th - m.-.elv?s to personify the Norse explorer and the French military martyr respectively. ' « .The most annoying of the Gheel r'pular apparitions is the fat man ’-ho swears’hs Is a steamship! By thi wav he soes whlzzlna and doW«

ougb the thoroughfares. Imitating the noises of a vessel under steam,

even to the whistle al he certainly must fam _

seised of. twin-screws, even If they are loose, and at least three smoko-

le la In theTial

everybody

down 1. and

the or iming i

log within his reach.

The most ridiculous of them all Is

the pensioned

who thin.

Nothing

everything cruises up ’’sounds" of

letlmcs ho

an ar-

firing tor-

Gheel. and

branches out oh the order of moved cruiser ramming and Art

pedoes at everything wit

" lous of tnem

sd government employe, he is made of cut glass, i describe the care and

circumspection with which he pilots his extremely fragile person through the crowds, afraid to collide even with the mltted bands of a baby for fear

pieces. On

of breaking to pU

he carries a sign saying:

with ci

iy for ) his

“Voral

back ratek-

o get after

so as

i protect himself from demolishing r attacks. It Is needless to say that

the steamship man and the crowbar armed gentleman with the door-hobby. The unusnal proportion of Insane Inhabltaffts In Gheel is ascribed to the oecullar 'effect of the atmosphere, which Is. nevertheless, of a rather steady and agreeable temperature. It does not appear to Influence visitors unless they stay long enough to the "fever." as they call It. a which you are sure to leave your tick bed with some sort of a hallucination estranging you from vour fellow-men. * U you ever vlsjt Gheel make

sojourn brief. Even if y< catch the “fever.” there

your own mind being Imposed upon by the apparitions of local lunacy constantly before you. And do not forget that the dty's pension for the Im sane does not apply to stranger^. Gneel wishes to exclude foreign petition in the line of mental rangement. so unless you have a scea for a radical cure, you had better

e your,

f you should not ere is danger of

,sion for the In-

dies to cxclnde foreign comIn the line of mental de-

rangement. so unless you have a pan-

NONSENSE ABOUT THUMB MARKS.

•A tremccdi s been writt

amount of nonsense about thumb marks."

zaid a New Orleans physician, who has a liking for the bypaths of science. "It Is claimed, you know, that the curious skin conflguration on the ball of the thumb Is never the same In any two people, and thst It never changi n birth to death. The first slab it Is. of course, correct, as no hui being In the world Is exactly like of his fellows, and the same thing can be said of the lines on the palm.

inges i ta re-

configuration of the t

But the assertion that the thumb marks never change throughout life xnd would serve as a means of identiflcailon from the cradle to the grave Is, to say the least, a decided exaggeration. I have given the subject a careful Investigation and have shown by a number of experiments : bat the configuration la liable to such

■ecogprint

of the original markings. The alterations may Como from a variety of

that will de-

stroy the-outer layer of skin.

lythlng. In fact,

r layer of si

took an.India Ink impression of

■eral;

roy the-outer layer "! took an. India I my own thumbs sevet

afterward I itty severely

off. and It occurred to me one day to take a new impression and see whether the fresh surface was an exact fac-

simile of t it the vari

of the Immnl

the mark were knocked higher than a kite. It Js true the changes were more in the .nature of a distortion of the former patterns than a complete rearrangement of the lines, but they were .6 pronounced that any value the nark might have had for Identification purposes was entirely lost. That ex-

terext and I pt friends to lean

thumbs icn re-

moved the top skin with a eolntlon of arnica. The skin layer that came off was a mere film—not nearly as thick as In my ease—yoe In every instance there were distinct and unmistakable litcratlons In the lines. One man’s

was so changed you would

cited my Interest and I persuaded a few of my friends to loan me their

for experiments. I first took

lechpd prti .cever In t

with the first.

ler modify In.

s so <

orld have Identified

Ano!

dcncy rlconti is la e. mechanics and other working people

the

Is' the tendency of the thumb to p little hort old. This

who use t

ic jkin conflgulent that U Is

ration to such an extent that equivalent almost to a rearrangement

of the pattern.

"Tea,. I know popular belief Is dead

FUTURE SOLAR ECLIPSES.

• The*. I win h* n

Total eclipses that cross Europe In the 20th century are the sub led of an article by A. C. D. Crommelln In the March number of Knowledge. The first, that on August 30, 190S. he

"Is a very favorable one, the tracl being 2 1-2 times as broad and thi

uratl

runs from Viva lex In Oviedo to Torre-

which

very

lurgos. w it and a-

blanca. passing close to

wi|l be a very convenient and acce* Ible station to view It from, the duration of totality there being 3m. 47s. m very unusual amount for a European eclipse. The width of the track Is about 120 miles; the southern limit runs approximately from Corunna to Valencia, the northern one from a little west of Santander to somewhat

may Bal-

Passing over

Lewis T. STEVXNB.

M. A. SCULL.

DON'T DIN 1 RISK; BE INSUBED

IN ONE OF THE BEST

carle 1*1 m the ecllpsi fter sun

lasplan.

•his beloi

of eclipses middle of tl

Ur at

mgs to that rather rare class which are total near the :he shadow track, but annu-

id end.

beginning

track enters Portugal near Arelro

Me

and

ivlng Spain some 12

miles cast of Gljon. It then traverses

runs northeast.

France, passing very near Paris, and across Belgium. Germany and Russia. In Portugal there will be about seven seconds of tolallty. In the west of

Ireland. The track of totality passes very near to. and may actually Intersect. the Island of Corvo In tha Ax ores,, so that this may be available as an observing station. If not It will be necessary to go to Guadaloupe or Venezuela The eclipse of 1821 Is inserted In the map. though only an annnlar one. since It 4s the next central eclipse In the British Isles. The last total eclipse In the British Isles was In 1724. but there were annular eclipses In 1836. 1847. 1858. The central line In 1821 err-sse* the Island of Lewis, and onward to the Lofoden Islands.

runs from near Anglesea to North Yorkshire, where totality will last about 21 seconds. Dr. Hind gives It as nine seconds, but this ssgms to me to be clearly too email. The track then goes right up the backbone of Norway and passes oat near Vaflso. which was occupied as an eclipse station In 1896, and may again be occu-

the i

, ue lne “““ pied, as the duration of totality there ;he creases on the bottom of the fe*t f J „

.b, 11, or tb,^ “

ern Norway; our weather experiences In 1896,' however, were not very en-

Btola ■ Dead Dog** Tag. Stole a Dead Dog’s Tag. A pathetic Incident of an ungraded crossing accident out in the-northeast-ern end of the city was the tragic death of a dog. which, before It could utter the faintest wall of protest was caught under the grinding wheels of the locomotive and crus bed to a shapeless mass. Theft were many expressions of pity for the fate of the poor, dumb brute, and one sympathetic lady had been almost moved to call the coroner when a beavlly-bullt

f the

man advanced to the body of tl

) make a critical

women bystanders, "perhaps 1 To give tl burial." Suddenly the man shocked the sensibilities of the spectators by whipping out his knife and culling the collar from the dog’s neck. The first presumption was that he waa the owner of the deceased dog and that be wanted to aave the tag for another dog. but he disabused this speculation by remarking as' he walked away: "Well. I’m certainly a lucky cuss. Things comes to me Just like finding ’em. I was goin’ down to the license collector tomorrer to buy a tag fer me dawg. an' now I’ve got one fer nuttln’." S.ntlmeut had no part In that man’s make-up.—Detroit Free Press.

HH BSM&i&JKiClKi gftggg^gggss BY STEVENS & SCULL, 5o6 Washington St., Cape May, AGENTS FOR The PHILADELPHIA UNDERWRITERS’ Tire insurance policy which is underwritten by The Insurance Company of North America and The Fire Association of Philadelphia The Philadelphia Undeewbitebs makes a Specialty of Insurance upon Dwellings and Household Furniture, Stores, and Stocks of Merchandise, Churches, School Houses, Public Buildings and Contents. Also, insures Loss of Rents caused by Fire. Total Assets of the Two Companies, $15,890,542.29

gmltssional garll.

-.R WALTER S. LEANING,

. DENTIST. Offlos Hours:—

9 to 11 S. D 2 to 6 p. n

Cor. Ocean and Hughes Street, (2d floor.) Cars Mat, N. J.

J AMES MJCCRAY, M. D. Co a. Perky arc Wasrutotox Sts. (Opposite Congress Hall.) Carr Mat Citt, N. J. Office Hours:— 6 to 9 a. m. 8 to 4 p. ml 7 to 8 p. m.

J^EWIS T. STEVENS. ATTORNEY-AT-LAW, 506 WtAhlngfim BL, Cats Mat, N. J. Matter And Solicitor In Chancery. Notary Public. Commissioner for Pennsrlvanle. r Bonds secured for co Is end fldsllty purposes.

THE HISTORY Cape MaV County The Aboriginal Times. LEWIS TOWNSEND STEVENS. Chapter. CONTENTS: i.—The Indians sod the Dutch Explorers, a—Pioneers and Whaling. — - - and Their:

Hons. A—Maritime Tcndendea and Cattle Own-

ing.

7,—Ancient Loans and Taxes

8-—The Brilgtaia Controversies. - * li.—Aaron Learning and Hu Times,

ir —John Hatton, the Tory. X it.—Preparations for War ' IA—The Revolution Begins.

The

17.—The County iS.—The War of 1819.

and ^ndependeaea.

An entenslve owner of cjty real os-

UI» .1 C.U* woo bt bL oac om 1

"Is this Mr. Pbilpotr 2s.-The Campaign* of iNu and i

-T- rs isn Bbb.. I

bletborpc avenue, I believe." j *9—Cape laland.

lorpc avenue, I believe." - 1 so —Cape Island. ’Yes.” V y--C«pe May city.

;| am told you are trying to sell If |

/ ~

•here arc a lot of thingk we take for -ranted In the world that won’t bear ■Crntlny.’’—New Orleans Times-Demo-crat. • ..Mnl-y Tatra Verna ta Rate Tork flty. SUM street 1 read the Battery came a man leading a fine HoUtqln cow. He was walking In the middle of the etreet. and the cow wai' stepping sedsUfly along behlfld him. Sha was an animal to have done a dairyman's eyeo good, horns polished, flanks carefully groomed and black and white coat glistening In the sun. Apparently she was too valuable a "milker" to be killed, bat what else could have been her deeflny? Inquisitive psrooaa were unable to find out, fo cow couldn’t talk, and the wouldn’t—New York Mail and

"May I ask who you nnV—-

"I am Professor Goodklnd, of the' university. t I have bought the place next to No. 576 on the south, for a residence, and to be frank, 1 don’t like the kind of tenants you rent your bouse to. I wish to buy It and select

«-

you rent ay it and

my own neighbors.' "No. sir!” answered the owner n<

"That

neighborhood Is Improving.—

I heard the other day of an Inscription contributed by Lord Rosebery to a lady’s album. Tha guests at a ducal country house were Invited each to PJJt down the reason .why they were staying there. Lord Roeebery gave as his reason: "To please their graces and to shoot their grouses.-—British

1>—Municipal Officers F—Tabic 01 I’o.iu'.atioiL

It U illustrated with forty-five picture* of prosnuest piaoas sod pcriou*. v* printed in clea: type, on good paper, contain* *So octavo parrs, and la bound in doth. Frier,

0*011

THOS. STEWART. E. H. BARTON. STEWART & BARTON F)0use § Sign Bainipers Boom painting and Interior work. Graining. Glaxiu. Etc. Strictly pur. material* u*ed anwrxacm.TM wurjwxaacgg . 230 Jaolcmon St-, 0*v« b*AV. N. J.

FIOT'EUL (S OR. ID OKI

PEN ALL THE

E NOV ATI YEAR.

» THROUGHOUT.

BOARDINO BY THE I3AY OR WEEK

,TUR STREET.

»■ R. CORDON.

CAPE MAY CI1

CLINTON SOUDER, DEALER IX [yFumiture, Carpets, Oilcloths, Mattresses, Matting, Window Shades and Awnings. 311-313 MANSION STREET.

E. S. HILDRETH, Succoaaor to Goo. Hildreth, 32-34 JACKSON ST. CAPE MAY.

Wholesale and Retail Dealer in

mmi FLOUR, GRAIN. FEED, HAY. WOOD, ETC. FLOUR »T PHILADELPHIA WHOLESALE PRICES.

' Brown "Villa, 228 Perry Street CAPE MAY, N. J. UNDER > 7 EW MANAGEMENT. * Large Airy Rooms; Renovated Throughout; Excellent Table; Open all the Year. Mrs. E. W. HAND, Prop*

rmm ocean •nterr. cart may, n. j. ; aarOpen all th# 78BJV An elegantly located family Hotel*®|tN^ ' ‘’■'.ki and Railroad Station. R. J. CRESWELL, Prop. ]