y are often exactly
opposite in tendency to the coming fact. For instance, the rumors of
secrecy at the Peace Conference were the one thing necessary to
guarantee complete publicity. Just before any important event occurs it
seems to discharge both positive and negative currents, just as a magnet
is polarized by an electric coil. Some people by mental habit catch the
negative vibrations, others the positive. Every one can remember the
military critics last March who were so certain that there would be no
German offensive. Their very certainty was to many others a proof that
the offensive was likely. They were full of the negative vibrations.

An interesting case of positive vibrations was the repeated rumor of the
Kaiser's abdication. The fact that those rumors were premature was
insignificant compared with the fact that they were current at all. The
fact that there were such rumors showed that it was only a matter of
time.

It is entertaining, if disconcerting, to watch a rumor on its travels.
A classic example of this during the recent war is exhibited by the
following clippings which were collected, I believe, by Norman Hapgood:

From the _Koelnische-Zeitung_:

"When the fall of Antwerp became known the church bells were rung."
(Meaning in Germany.)

[Illustration]

From the Paris _Matin_:

"According to the _Koelnische-Zeitung_, the clergy of Antwerp were
compelled to ring the church bells when the fortress was taken."

From the London _Times_:

"According to what the _Matin_ has heard from Cologne, the Belgian
priests, who refused to ring the church bells when Antwerp was taken,
have been driven away from their places."

From the _Corriere Della Sera_, of Milan:

"According to what the _Times_ has heard from Cologne, via Paris, the
unfortunate Belgian priests, who refused to ring the church bells when
Antwerp was taken, have been sentenced to hard labor."

From the _Matin_ again:

"According to information received by the _Corriere Della Sera_, from
Cologne, via London, it is confirmed that the barbaric conquerors of
Antwerp punished the unfortunate Belgian priests for their heroic
refusal to ring the church bells by hanging them as living clappers to
the bells with their heads down."

Be hospitable to rumors, for however grotesque they are, they always
have some reason for existence. The Sixth Sense is the sense of news,
the sense that something is going to happen. And just as every orchestra
ut