1900
An Innovation
"Brethren and sisters," said the Rev. Jack Jonks, the well-known Oklahoma divine, relates the New York World, "I am requested to announce that the ladies of the church will give a fair and festival at Tilligan's hall next Thursday evening, to which everybody is invited.
"I will further say that everything will be square and above-board on that occasion. I have been moved to insist upon this innovation because of the numerous kicks which have been registered since the last event of this character. Certain of the brethren, especially those who have but recently become members of the church and have not yet forgotten their worldly wisdom, have been complaining that there was no reciprocity in the various catch-penny devices and games of chance at the last festival, and they are emphatic in their proclamation that, while they do not object to running up against any legitimate hazard for the good of the cause, they decline to participate in any more lead-pipe cinches.
"I will therefore add that at the coming festival the grab-bag, fish pond, weighing-machine and kindred devices for replenishing the treasury will be under the direct supervision of Curly Conroy, the gentlemanly and accomplished dealer of faro at the Blue Ruin fortune parlors. In kindly agreeing to superintend these devices, Mr. Conroy pledges his professional honor that every visitor who puts down his scads will at least have some show for his money, and that his part of the evening's entertainment will be conducted in the same unprejudiced and impartial way that characterizes his work at the Blue Ruin. The usual collection will now be taken."
Showing posts with label games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label games. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Birthday Surprise Party for Rev. H. P. Lane
California, 1916
Rev. Henry P. Lane, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, was pleasantly surprised Monday evening at his home, when a number of the members and friends of the congregation arrived to celebrate his fifty-eighth birthday.
In order that the pastor might forget that he was growing older, most of the guests came dressed as children. This group of "grownups" made merry during the evening, playing all the children's games that could be thought of, and in which the pastor heartily took part.
As a token of deep appreciation, N. P. Smith, on behalf of those present and others not present, presented to Rev. Lane fifty-eight crisp one-dollar bills, one for each year of his life. The gift was visibly a surprise indeed, and in his acceptance Rev. Lane expressed his sincere expression of good will.
Mrs. Lane, the hostess, had arranged refreshments, which were greatly relished at the close. Among those present from out of town were Herrick Lane and wife, of Eagle Rock and Paul Lane of Catalina, both sons of Rev. Lane.
—The Van Nuys News, Van Nuys, CA, Feb. 4, 1916, p. 1.
Rev. Henry P. Lane, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, was pleasantly surprised Monday evening at his home, when a number of the members and friends of the congregation arrived to celebrate his fifty-eighth birthday.
In order that the pastor might forget that he was growing older, most of the guests came dressed as children. This group of "grownups" made merry during the evening, playing all the children's games that could be thought of, and in which the pastor heartily took part.
As a token of deep appreciation, N. P. Smith, on behalf of those present and others not present, presented to Rev. Lane fifty-eight crisp one-dollar bills, one for each year of his life. The gift was visibly a surprise indeed, and in his acceptance Rev. Lane expressed his sincere expression of good will.
Mrs. Lane, the hostess, had arranged refreshments, which were greatly relished at the close. Among those present from out of town were Herrick Lane and wife, of Eagle Rock and Paul Lane of Catalina, both sons of Rev. Lane.
—The Van Nuys News, Van Nuys, CA, Feb. 4, 1916, p. 1.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Minister Took Look at Gambling Rooms
Illinois, 1914
Alton Parson Strolled to the Gambling Rooms
Now They Are Wondering Just What The Answer Will Be
Alton residents are wondering what a minister from that city will do with his recently acquired knowledge. He spent an evening this week in one of the so-called resorts of the city. Many think he may appear before the grand jury. The Alton Times tells of the visitation as follows:
"One of the Alton ministers spent last evening — or a part of it in a gambling house on West Second street. He is a young man and an innocent looking chap. He put a pipe in his mouth, wore a pair of boots in which his trousers were tucked at the top of the boots, had on an old rain coat, pulled his hat so that it gave his a rakish air.
He did not consider himself disguised but he made himself look like a young man who makes money and lets go of it easily. So he went down to the building on West Second street, walked up to the rooms above Ballard and John's restaurant and walked right in. There was a good sized crowd of players and the silver dollars were strewn about in an abundance that surprised a man who had heard that there is a money stringency in Alton. He took no part in the play but he saw the others rolling dice. He states that at one time there was at least five hundred dollars on the table. In the same room some players were playing poker. He says they were playing cards and he believes the game was not 'flinch or five hundred.'
"The roulette table was in the same room with the crap table, but 'craps' was the most popular game. The roulette game was not running.
"The minister looked on until he had seen enough and then walked out. He will deliver an address at the Baptist church next Sunday and tell all about what he saw.
"The silver dollars were in stacks of twenty each and he counted the stacks until he had reached a total of $600 and then quit though he did not inventory the smaller coins."
—Edwardsville Intelligencer, Edwardsville, IL, Feb. 10, 1914, p. 1
Alton Parson Strolled to the Gambling Rooms
Now They Are Wondering Just What The Answer Will Be
Alton residents are wondering what a minister from that city will do with his recently acquired knowledge. He spent an evening this week in one of the so-called resorts of the city. Many think he may appear before the grand jury. The Alton Times tells of the visitation as follows:
"One of the Alton ministers spent last evening — or a part of it in a gambling house on West Second street. He is a young man and an innocent looking chap. He put a pipe in his mouth, wore a pair of boots in which his trousers were tucked at the top of the boots, had on an old rain coat, pulled his hat so that it gave his a rakish air.
He did not consider himself disguised but he made himself look like a young man who makes money and lets go of it easily. So he went down to the building on West Second street, walked up to the rooms above Ballard and John's restaurant and walked right in. There was a good sized crowd of players and the silver dollars were strewn about in an abundance that surprised a man who had heard that there is a money stringency in Alton. He took no part in the play but he saw the others rolling dice. He states that at one time there was at least five hundred dollars on the table. In the same room some players were playing poker. He says they were playing cards and he believes the game was not 'flinch or five hundred.'
"The roulette table was in the same room with the crap table, but 'craps' was the most popular game. The roulette game was not running.
"The minister looked on until he had seen enough and then walked out. He will deliver an address at the Baptist church next Sunday and tell all about what he saw.
"The silver dollars were in stacks of twenty each and he counted the stacks until he had reached a total of $600 and then quit though he did not inventory the smaller coins."
—Edwardsville Intelligencer, Edwardsville, IL, Feb. 10, 1914, p. 1
Sunday, April 15, 2007
How Sunday Was Observed in Merry Olde England
1903
OLD ENGLISH SUNDAY
How the Day Was Observed Prior to the English Revolution.
For a considerable period prior to the English revolution Sunday was a day of great festivity and high revelry in the old country. Incredible though it may appear, its observance was governed and ordered by a paradoxical royal declaration, issued by King James I. This document is generally known as "The Book of Sports." In its preamble it recites a royal rebuke, administered to "some Puritans and precise people" for "prohibiting o' unlawful punishing of Our good people for using their lawful Recreations and honest exercises upon Sundayes and other holy days, after the afternoone sermon or service," and then it refers to "the general complaint of our people that they were barred from all lawful Recreation and exercise upon the Sundayes afternoone, which cannot but produce two evils; the one the hindering of the conversion of many, whom their priests will take occasion hereby to vexe, persuading them that no honest mirth or recreation is lawfully or tollerable in our Religion which cannot but breed a great discontentment in our people's hearts; the other inconvenience is that this prohibition barreth the common and meaner sort of people from using such exercises as may make their bodies more able for Warre, when we or our successors shall have occasion to use them."
Then follows the royal mandate "that no lawful Recreation shall be barred to our good People," and "The Bishop and all other inferior Churchmen and Churchwardens" are enjoined to "bee careful and diligent both to instruct the ignorant and convince and reforme them that are misled in religion." "Our pleasure likewise is That the Bishop of the Diocese take the like straight order with all the Puritans and Precisians within the same, either constraining them to conforme themselves, or to leave the country according to the Lawes of Our Kingdome and Canons of our Church." The declaration proceeds to define "lawful Recreation" as "Dancing, either men or women. Archerie for men, leaping, vaulting or any other such harmlesse Recreation, including May games, Witsun-Ales and Morris-dances and the setting up of May poles and other sports therewith used. But withal wee doe here accompt still as prohibited all unlawful games to be used upon Sundays onely, as Beare and Bull baitings, Interludes, and at all times in the feaner sort of People by Law prohibited, Bowling." A penalty was inflicted upon those who did not join in the Sunday sports, and no one could take part in them without first having attended divine service in the parish church, which was also enforced under pain of penalty.
In those days the clergymen would, in obedience to the royal decree, publicly recite the "Book of Sports" from the pulpit; after divine service he, with his church wardens, would proceed with the congregation onto the village green, there to indulge in all kinds of "lawful Recreation." While the sports were going on it was the custom for the parson and his church wardens to retire to the adjoining room.—New York Evening Post.
—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, March 4, 1903, page 3.
OLD ENGLISH SUNDAY
How the Day Was Observed Prior to the English Revolution.
For a considerable period prior to the English revolution Sunday was a day of great festivity and high revelry in the old country. Incredible though it may appear, its observance was governed and ordered by a paradoxical royal declaration, issued by King James I. This document is generally known as "The Book of Sports." In its preamble it recites a royal rebuke, administered to "some Puritans and precise people" for "prohibiting o' unlawful punishing of Our good people for using their lawful Recreations and honest exercises upon Sundayes and other holy days, after the afternoone sermon or service," and then it refers to "the general complaint of our people that they were barred from all lawful Recreation and exercise upon the Sundayes afternoone, which cannot but produce two evils; the one the hindering of the conversion of many, whom their priests will take occasion hereby to vexe, persuading them that no honest mirth or recreation is lawfully or tollerable in our Religion which cannot but breed a great discontentment in our people's hearts; the other inconvenience is that this prohibition barreth the common and meaner sort of people from using such exercises as may make their bodies more able for Warre, when we or our successors shall have occasion to use them."
Then follows the royal mandate "that no lawful Recreation shall be barred to our good People," and "The Bishop and all other inferior Churchmen and Churchwardens" are enjoined to "bee careful and diligent both to instruct the ignorant and convince and reforme them that are misled in religion." "Our pleasure likewise is That the Bishop of the Diocese take the like straight order with all the Puritans and Precisians within the same, either constraining them to conforme themselves, or to leave the country according to the Lawes of Our Kingdome and Canons of our Church." The declaration proceeds to define "lawful Recreation" as "Dancing, either men or women. Archerie for men, leaping, vaulting or any other such harmlesse Recreation, including May games, Witsun-Ales and Morris-dances and the setting up of May poles and other sports therewith used. But withal wee doe here accompt still as prohibited all unlawful games to be used upon Sundays onely, as Beare and Bull baitings, Interludes, and at all times in the feaner sort of People by Law prohibited, Bowling." A penalty was inflicted upon those who did not join in the Sunday sports, and no one could take part in them without first having attended divine service in the parish church, which was also enforced under pain of penalty.
In those days the clergymen would, in obedience to the royal decree, publicly recite the "Book of Sports" from the pulpit; after divine service he, with his church wardens, would proceed with the congregation onto the village green, there to indulge in all kinds of "lawful Recreation." While the sports were going on it was the custom for the parson and his church wardens to retire to the adjoining room.—New York Evening Post.
—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, March 4, 1903, page 3.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Pastor Tells of Life's Thrills
Oakland, California, 1922
People do get a thrill from night life or from being honored and being in the eyes of the world, but it is a thrill which does not last and results in the constant search for a new variety. This was the contention of Dr. Frank M. Silsley, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, in the sermon delivered at that church last night. In part he said: "The quest of everybody is happiness. We make changes in life, tour the world, and turn to philosophy for the secret of happiness. But the plain teaching of Christ and the Apostles is that the most satisfying thrills are not received from the things of the world.
"It would be foolish to deny what is evident, that people do get a thrill out of night life and from being successful or highly honored, but these thrills do not satisfy. A deadly reaction follows them and leaves the votary nauseated and weary and empty. The endeavor to get out only pleasures out of the world is not treating our souls according to the spiritual nature. We were made for fellowship of God. Night life and syncopated orchestras do not satisfy anyone's spiritual nature. True thrills in life come from sinless recreations.
"Let people play games. The municipal golf links are one of our greatest social institutions. The secret of true pleasure above everything is the joy that comes from believing Christ. Faith gives us the victory over self, over circumstances, and the spirit of the age. A great thrill comes from having Christ as our companion. And possibly the greatest thrill comes from serving Christ and men. There is unspeakable joy in helping the needy, in social uplift work, in leading lives to Christ and endeavoring to promote the kingdom of love, righteousness and justice in the world."
-Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, September 18, 1922, page 14B.
People do get a thrill from night life or from being honored and being in the eyes of the world, but it is a thrill which does not last and results in the constant search for a new variety. This was the contention of Dr. Frank M. Silsley, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, in the sermon delivered at that church last night. In part he said: "The quest of everybody is happiness. We make changes in life, tour the world, and turn to philosophy for the secret of happiness. But the plain teaching of Christ and the Apostles is that the most satisfying thrills are not received from the things of the world.
"It would be foolish to deny what is evident, that people do get a thrill out of night life and from being successful or highly honored, but these thrills do not satisfy. A deadly reaction follows them and leaves the votary nauseated and weary and empty. The endeavor to get out only pleasures out of the world is not treating our souls according to the spiritual nature. We were made for fellowship of God. Night life and syncopated orchestras do not satisfy anyone's spiritual nature. True thrills in life come from sinless recreations.
"Let people play games. The municipal golf links are one of our greatest social institutions. The secret of true pleasure above everything is the joy that comes from believing Christ. Faith gives us the victory over self, over circumstances, and the spirit of the age. A great thrill comes from having Christ as our companion. And possibly the greatest thrill comes from serving Christ and men. There is unspeakable joy in helping the needy, in social uplift work, in leading lives to Christ and endeavoring to promote the kingdom of love, righteousness and justice in the world."
-Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, September 18, 1922, page 14B.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Interviews with Ouija
1920
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN,
Director Janesville Daily Gazette Information Bureau, Washington, D.C.
Washington, Feb. 20.—"Why don't you interview ouija?" asked 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 home of ouija janes. But always 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.
Still, we reflected, there were advantages to this kind of interview. Ouija, once cornered, could not plead a previous engagement or a conference, and judging by his reputation he would have a lot to say.
So we decided to borrow a staid, serious minded old ouija and ask him about the Sims-Daniels 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. We knew the board to borrow. It belongs to an elderly woman who goes in for higher thought and concentration, and undoubtedly her ouija has never been asked a silly question in its life.
Borrowed Board and Book
The old woman promptly offered to get the board, and also a book on how to set the best results with ouija. We hauled ouija home, corralled a friend to act as accomplice, and with the setting arranged, settled down for the interview.
First we read the book carefully. We found out that "the solar plexus -- that never sleeping brain of the individual -- is the witch board or receiving station for the messages." We also discovered that "the great secret why some individuals can successfully use the board and some cannot is "that the successful person must have, so to speak, a diseasedly sensitive solar plexus." That worried us, as our solar plexus has always been pretty healthy, and was 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 his inside information and a warning that to get best results you must think high thoughts we invited "little weegee" to the interview.
For the property of a higher thought sort of person this ouija board certainly had a remarkable line of talk and interesting opinions. It told us that there would be a big message for us.
Aunt Harriet Is Happy
After a rest it condescended to tell us that Aunt Harriet, who died some years ago, "is 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 commented on the rather flippant attitude that it seemed to have. "Well," said the old woman, "I never tried the board myself. It's the maid's 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. "Yessuh. Try de toy division, suh."
The toy division was also moved to laughter over the password, but soon recovered sufficiently for a pleasant young patent examiner to get a collection of the patents.
"There are now 30 or 40 patents along this line," he explained. "Some are ouija board type, worked by a moving index, and others are planchettes and have a pencil to write the message."
"The first ouija board, called 'little wonder,' was patented in 186S. Since then, the idea has been adapted and the board improved by numerous inventors, mostly toy makers. The ouija board and similar inventions can be patented in the United States only as a toy. The patent office does not inquire into any mystic properties, and it does not permit inventors to claim or describe such properties in their patent papers."
It's Different in England
In England inventors often go into detail to explain the supernatural power of such devices. Thus, one British patentee inserts the following on his patent:
"If the person or persons are of temperament suitable for the reception of spiritualistic or telepathic messages, sentences may be spent out obtained from such sources and possibly conveying information unknown to the operator; the largest number of messages are automatic, i.e., communications from the subliminal consciousness finding expression through muscular workings controlled in a method hitherto only imperfectly understood."
"What does ouija mean, anyway?" we asked the patent office, for we have heard all sorts of cabalistic meanings attached to the queer syllables. "Well," said an obliging clerk, "the name is trademarked just as a word, but we understand that it means 'yes, yes,' being derived from oui, which is French for yes, and ja, which is German."
This seems plausible, if we discount ouija's own statements that its name signifies "The Master Hand," or "The Unknown," or that it is Hawaiian for "Truth." If ouija had not told so many people such different names for itself it might be easier to believe that the name savors of the occult. As it is, we fear that some prosaic toymaker, French perhaps, or German, accidentally put these two syllables together and found the effect pleasing, so that he named the board which answered yes and no, ouija, a union of languages not offensive.
Inventor Doesn't Understand
The ouija board most used in the United States was patented by William Fuld, a Baltimore toy manufacturer. Mr. Fuld invented his board simply as a game of the puzzle or mystic variety. He is careful to say that he does not claim any remarkable powers for his invention, but on the other hand, he tells the public that he does not himself know exactly what makes the little table move in so uncanny a manner.
This Solomon-like verdict is the only safe one for the inventor, for to deny outspokenly that his little board held any kinship with spirits would greatly injure the trade in his best seller, while if he claimed mysterious powers in league with the bits of wood, then he might be held responsible for some of little ouija's playful jokes.
Take the recent case of the woman who was unable to account for the disappearance of a sum of money. Ouija told her that a certain neighbor had taken it, and this startling advice was accepted as a clue from heaven. The neighbor was dramatically accused of theft, and the case went to court, one woman claiming a charge of theft, and the other after a libel suit. In such an instance the inventor of ouija is safe from attack as the cause of it all, as he never claimed that his invention was infallible.
Comedy and Farce
Most of ouija's history has been comedy, so far, and a good deal has been farce, but in a few cases an unaccountable force is said to have guided the board. The outstanding example of this is the well known story of Patience Worth who sent messages to a St. Louis woman through a ouija board. The mystery of Patience was that she talked in the language of seventeenth century England, using words and figures of speech which the medium could not possibly know, but which were almost always found in dictionaries of archaic English. Patience is still a mystery -- a seventeenth century English spinster who came to St. Louis to give her poems to the twentieth century, and for social chats with the medium and her friends, all through the ouija board.
We had talked to the ouija board, and delved into its history, and there was one more thing we wanted to know about that ouija -- how does it work, anyway? We called up the bureau of standards, the government scientific laboratory. The chief clerk answered, after his secretary had gurgled our message to him between fits of giggles, easily heard over the phone. The chief clerk was amused too, but the third commandment of the government is to give a serious answer to inquiries.
"Of course," he said, "we have never made a study of this matter. Unofficially, I should say that there is a tendency for the eye to guide the table toward some letter. The influence of the eye is shown in that is almost impossible to get any results blindfolded.
"Yes," he continued, "it is probably the working of the sub-conscious mind."
Still, we wonder. Thousands of people play with the board every night when the supper table is cleared off, and weegee tells them what day Jim will come home, and who is playing at the Main street picture show. Sometimes weegee hits the answer, sometimes he fails. It is a game. But out of these thousands of ouija fans comes one who calls up a Patience Worth, to upset the common sense theories and keep us wondering.
--Janesville Daily Gazette, Janesville, Wisconsin, February 26, 1920, page 4.
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN,
Director Janesville Daily Gazette Information Bureau, Washington, D.C.
Washington, Feb. 20.—"Why don't you interview ouija?" asked 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 home of ouija janes. But always 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.
Still, we reflected, there were advantages to this kind of interview. Ouija, once cornered, could not plead a previous engagement or a conference, and judging by his reputation he would have a lot to say.
So we decided to borrow a staid, serious minded old ouija and ask him about the Sims-Daniels 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. We knew the board to borrow. It belongs to an elderly woman who goes in for higher thought and concentration, and undoubtedly her ouija has never been asked a silly question in its life.
Borrowed Board and Book
The old woman promptly offered to get the board, and also a book on how to set the best results with ouija. We hauled ouija home, corralled a friend to act as accomplice, and with the setting arranged, settled down for the interview.
First we read the book carefully. We found out that "the solar plexus -- that never sleeping brain of the individual -- is the witch board or receiving station for the messages." We also discovered that "the great secret why some individuals can successfully use the board and some cannot is "that the successful person must have, so to speak, a diseasedly sensitive solar plexus." That worried us, as our solar plexus has always been pretty healthy, and was 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 his inside information and a warning that to get best results you must think high thoughts we invited "little weegee" to the interview.
For the property of a higher thought sort of person this ouija board certainly had a remarkable line of talk and interesting opinions. It told us that there would be a big message for us.
Aunt Harriet Is Happy
After a rest it condescended to tell us that Aunt Harriet, who died some years ago, "is 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 commented on the rather flippant attitude that it seemed to have. "Well," said the old woman, "I never tried the board myself. It's the maid's 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. "Yessuh. Try de toy division, suh."
The toy division was also moved to laughter over the password, but soon recovered sufficiently for a pleasant young patent examiner to get a collection of the patents.
"There are now 30 or 40 patents along this line," he explained. "Some are ouija board type, worked by a moving index, and others are planchettes and have a pencil to write the message."
"The first ouija board, called 'little wonder,' was patented in 186S. Since then, the idea has been adapted and the board improved by numerous inventors, mostly toy makers. The ouija board and similar inventions can be patented in the United States only as a toy. The patent office does not inquire into any mystic properties, and it does not permit inventors to claim or describe such properties in their patent papers."
It's Different in England
In England inventors often go into detail to explain the supernatural power of such devices. Thus, one British patentee inserts the following on his patent:
"If the person or persons are of temperament suitable for the reception of spiritualistic or telepathic messages, sentences may be spent out obtained from such sources and possibly conveying information unknown to the operator; the largest number of messages are automatic, i.e., communications from the subliminal consciousness finding expression through muscular workings controlled in a method hitherto only imperfectly understood."
"What does ouija mean, anyway?" we asked the patent office, for we have heard all sorts of cabalistic meanings attached to the queer syllables. "Well," said an obliging clerk, "the name is trademarked just as a word, but we understand that it means 'yes, yes,' being derived from oui, which is French for yes, and ja, which is German."
This seems plausible, if we discount ouija's own statements that its name signifies "The Master Hand," or "The Unknown," or that it is Hawaiian for "Truth." If ouija had not told so many people such different names for itself it might be easier to believe that the name savors of the occult. As it is, we fear that some prosaic toymaker, French perhaps, or German, accidentally put these two syllables together and found the effect pleasing, so that he named the board which answered yes and no, ouija, a union of languages not offensive.
Inventor Doesn't Understand
The ouija board most used in the United States was patented by William Fuld, a Baltimore toy manufacturer. Mr. Fuld invented his board simply as a game of the puzzle or mystic variety. He is careful to say that he does not claim any remarkable powers for his invention, but on the other hand, he tells the public that he does not himself know exactly what makes the little table move in so uncanny a manner.
This Solomon-like verdict is the only safe one for the inventor, for to deny outspokenly that his little board held any kinship with spirits would greatly injure the trade in his best seller, while if he claimed mysterious powers in league with the bits of wood, then he might be held responsible for some of little ouija's playful jokes.
Take the recent case of the woman who was unable to account for the disappearance of a sum of money. Ouija told her that a certain neighbor had taken it, and this startling advice was accepted as a clue from heaven. The neighbor was dramatically accused of theft, and the case went to court, one woman claiming a charge of theft, and the other after a libel suit. In such an instance the inventor of ouija is safe from attack as the cause of it all, as he never claimed that his invention was infallible.
Comedy and Farce
Most of ouija's history has been comedy, so far, and a good deal has been farce, but in a few cases an unaccountable force is said to have guided the board. The outstanding example of this is the well known story of Patience Worth who sent messages to a St. Louis woman through a ouija board. The mystery of Patience was that she talked in the language of seventeenth century England, using words and figures of speech which the medium could not possibly know, but which were almost always found in dictionaries of archaic English. Patience is still a mystery -- a seventeenth century English spinster who came to St. Louis to give her poems to the twentieth century, and for social chats with the medium and her friends, all through the ouija board.
We had talked to the ouija board, and delved into its history, and there was one more thing we wanted to know about that ouija -- how does it work, anyway? We called up the bureau of standards, the government scientific laboratory. The chief clerk answered, after his secretary had gurgled our message to him between fits of giggles, easily heard over the phone. The chief clerk was amused too, but the third commandment of the government is to give a serious answer to inquiries.
"Of course," he said, "we have never made a study of this matter. Unofficially, I should say that there is a tendency for the eye to guide the table toward some letter. The influence of the eye is shown in that is almost impossible to get any results blindfolded.
"Yes," he continued, "it is probably the working of the sub-conscious mind."
Still, we wonder. Thousands of people play with the board every night when the supper table is cleared off, and weegee tells them what day Jim will come home, and who is playing at the Main street picture show. Sometimes weegee hits the answer, sometimes he fails. It is a game. But out of these thousands of ouija fans comes one who calls up a Patience Worth, to upset the common sense theories and keep us wondering.
--Janesville Daily Gazette, Janesville, Wisconsin, February 26, 1920, page 4.
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