There are strange things lost and forgotten in obscure corners of the newspaper. I often think that the most extraordinary item of intelligence that I have read in print appeared a few years ago in the London Press. It came from a well known and most respected news agency; I imagine it was in all the papers. It was astounding1.
The circumstances necessary — not to the understanding of this paragraph, for that is out of the question — but, we will say, to the understanding of the events which made it possible, are these. We had invaded Thibet, and there had been trouble in the hierarchy2 of that country, and a personage known as the Tashai Lama had taken refuge with us in India. He went on pilgrimage from one Buddhist3 shrine4 to another, and came at last to a holy mountain of Buddhism5, the name of which I have forgotten. And thus the morning paper.
His Holiness the Tashai Lama then ascended6 the Mountain and was transfigured.— Reuter.
That was all. And from that day to this I have never heard a word of explanation or comment on this amazing statement.
There was no more, it seemed, to be said. “Reuter,” apparently7, thought he had made his simple statement of the facts of the case, had thereby8 done his duty, and so it all ended. Nobody, so far as I know, ever wrote to any paper asking what Reuter meant by it, or what the Tashai Lama meant by it. I suppose the fact was that nobody cared two-pence about the matter; and so this strange event — if there were any such event — was exhibited to us for a moment, and the lantern show revolved9 to other spectacles.
This is an extreme instance of the manner in which the marvellous is flashed out to us and then withdrawn10 behind its black veils and concealments; but I have known of other cases. Now and again, at intervals11 of a few years, there appear in the newspapers strange stories of the strange doings of what are technically12 called poltergeists. Some house, often a lonely farm, is suddenly subjected to an infernal bombardment. Great stones crash through the windows, thunder down the chimneys, impelled13 by no visible hand. The plates and cups and saucers are whirled from the dresser into the middle of the kitchen, no one can say how or by what agency. Upstairs the big bedstead and an old chest or two are heard bounding on the floor as if in a mad ballet. Now and then such doings as these excite a whole neighbourhood; sometimes a London paper sends a man down to make an investigation14. He writes half a column of description on the Monday, a couple of paragraphs on the Tuesday, and then returns to town. Nothing has been explained, the matter vanishes away; and nobody cares. The tale trickles15 for a day or two through the Press, and then instantly disappears, like an Australian stream, into the bowels16 of darkness. It is possible, I suppose, that this singular incuriousness as to marvellous events and reports is not wholly unaccountable. It may be that the events in question are, as it were, psychic17 accidents and misadventures. They are not meant to happen, or, rather, to be manifested. They belong to the world on the other side of the dark curtain; and it is only by some queer mischance that a corner of that curtain is twitched18 aside for an instant. Then — for an instant — we see; but the personages whom Mr. Kipling calls the Lords of Life and Death take care that we do not see too much. Our business is with things higher and things lower, with things different, anyhow; and on the whole we are not suffered to distract ourselves with that which does not really concern us. The Transfiguration of the Lama and the tricks of the poltergeist are evidently no affairs of ours; we raise an uninterested eyebrow19 and pass on — to poetry or to statistics.
Be it noted20; I am not professing21 any fervent22 personal belief in the reports to which I have alluded23. For all I know, the Lama, in spite of Reuter, was not transfigured, and the poltergeist, in spite of the late Mr. Andrew Lang, may in reality be only mischievous24 Polly, the servant girl at the farm. And to go farther: I do not know that I should be justified25 in putting either of these cases of the marvellous in line with a chance paragraph that caught my eye last summer; for this had not, on the face of it at all events, anything wildly out of the common. Indeed, I dare say that I should not have read it, should not have seen it, if it had not contained the name of a place which I had once visited, which had then moved me in an odd manner that I could not understand. Indeed, I am sure that this particular paragraph deserves to stand alone, for even if the poltergeist be a real poltergeist, it merely reveals the psychic whimsicality of some region that is not our region. There were better things and more relevant things behind the few lines dealing26 with Llantrisant, the little town by the sea in Arfonshire.
Not on the surface, I must say, for the cutting I have preserved it — reads as follows:—
LLANTRISANT.— The season promises very favourably27: temperature of the sea yesterday at noon, 65 deg. Remarkable28 occurrences are supposed to have taken place during the recent Revival29. The lights have not been observed lately. “The Crown.” “The Fisherman’s Rest.”
The style was odd certainly; knowing a little of newspapers. I could see that the figure called, I think, tmesis, or cutting, had been generously employed; the exuberances of the local correspondent had been pruned30 by a Fleet Street expert. And these poor men are often hurried; but what did those “lights” mean? What strange matters had the vehement31 blue pencil blotted32 out and brought to naught33?
That was my first thought, and then, thinking still of Llantrisant and how I had first discovered it and found it strange, I read the paragraph again, and was saddened almost to see, as I thought, the obvious explanation. I had forgotten for the moment that it was war-time, that scares and rumours34 and terrors about traitorous36 signals and flashing lights were current everywhere by land and sea; someone, no doubt, had been watching innocent farmhouse37 windows and thoughtless fanlights of lodging38 houses; these were the “lights” that had not been observed lately.
I found out afterwards that the Llantrisant correspondent had no such treasonous lights in his mind, but something very different. Still; what do we know? He may have been mistaken, “the great rose of fire” that came over the deep may have been the port light of a coasting-ship. Did it shine at last from the old chapel39 on the headland? Possibly; or possibly it was the doctor’s lamp at Sarnau, some miles away. I have had wonderful opportunities lately of analysing the marvels40 of lying, conscious and unconscious; and indeed almost incredible feats41 in this way can be performed. If I incline to the less likely explanation of the “lights” at Llantrisant, it is merely because this explanation seems to me to be altogether congruous with the “remarkable occurrences” of the newspaper paragraph.
After all, if rumour35 and gossip and hearsay42 are crazy things to be utterly43 neglected and laid aside: on the other hand, evidence is evidence, and when a couple of reputable surgeons assert, as they do assert in the case of Olwen Phillips, Croeswen, Llantrisant, that there has been a “kind of resurrection of the body,” it is merely foolish to say that these things don’t happen. The girl was a mass of tuberculosis44, she was within a few hours of death; she is now full of life. And so, I do not believe that the rose of fire was merely a ship’s light, magnified and transformed by dreaming Welsh sailors.
But now I am going forward too fast. I have not dated the paragraph, so I cannot give the exact day of its appearance, but I think it was somewhere between the second and third week of June. I cut it out partly because it was about Llantrisant, partly because of the “remarkable occurrences.” I have an appetite for these matters, though I also have this misfortune, that I require evidence before I am ready to credit them, and I have a sort of lingering hope that some day I shall be able to elaborate some scheme or theory of such things.
But in the meantime, as a temporary measure, I hold what I call the doctrine45 of the jig-saw puzzle. That is: this remarkable occurrence, and that, and the other may be, and usually are, of no significance. Coincidence and chance and unsearchable causes will now and again make clouds that are undeniable fiery46 dragons, and potatoes that resemble Eminent47 Statesmen exactly and minutely in every feature, and rocks that are like eagles and lions. All this is nothing; it is when you get your set of odd shapes and find that they fit into one another, and at last that they are but parts of a large design; it is then that research grows interesting and indeed amazing, it is then that one queer form confirms the other, that the whole plan displayed justifies48, corroborates49, explains each separate piece.
So, it was within a week or ten days after I had read the paragraph about Llantrisant and had cut it out that I got a letter from a friend who was taking an early holiday in those regions.
“You will be interested,” he wrote, “to hear that they have taken to ritualistic practices at Llantrisant. I went into the church the other day, and instead of smelling like a damp vault50 as usual, it was positively51 reeking52 with incense53.”
I knew better than that. The old parson was a firm Evangelical; he would rather have burnt sulphur in his church than incense any day. So I could not make out this report at all; and went down to Arfon a few weeks later determined54 to investigate this and any other remarkable occurrence at Llantrisant.
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1
astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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hierarchy
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| n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层 | |
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Buddhist
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| adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒 | |
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shrine
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| n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣 | |
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Buddhism
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| n.佛教（教义） | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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revolved
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想 | |
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withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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technically
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| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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trickles
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| n.细流( trickle的名词复数 )；稀稀疏疏缓慢来往的东西v.滴( trickle的第三人称单数 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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psychic
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| n.对超自然力敏感的人；adj.有超自然力的 | |
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twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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eyebrow
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| n.眉毛，眉 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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professing
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| 声称( profess的现在分词 )； 宣称； 公开表明； 信奉 | |
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fervent
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| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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favourably
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| adv. 善意地，赞成地 =favorably | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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30
pruned
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| v.修剪（树木等）( prune的过去式和过去分词 )；精简某事物，除去某事物多余的部分 | |
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vehement
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| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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32
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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36
traitorous
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| adj. 叛国的, 不忠的, 背信弃义的 | |
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farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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40
marvels
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| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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41
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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hearsay
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| n.谣传，风闻 | |
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43
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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tuberculosis
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| n.结核病，肺结核 | |
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45
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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46
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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justifies
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| 证明…有理( justify的第三人称单数 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护） | |
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corroborates
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| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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50
vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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51
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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52
reeking
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| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的现在分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
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53
incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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54
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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