diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14044-0.txt | 1163 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14044-8.txt | 1553 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14044-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 32364 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14044.txt | 1553 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14044.zip | bin | 0 -> 32360 bytes |
8 files changed, 4285 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14044-0.txt b/14044-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4ba97d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/14044-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1163 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14044 *** + +THE ANGELS OF MONS + +The Bowmen and Other Legends of the War + +by + +ARTHUR MACHEN + +1915 + + + + + + + +Introduction + +I have been asked to write an introduction to the story of "The +Bowmen", on its publication in book form together with three other +tales of similar fashion. And I hesitate. This affair of "The Bowmen" +has been such an odd one from first to last, so many queer +complications have entered into it, there have been so many and so +divers currents and cross-currents of rumour and speculation +concerning it, that I honestly do not know where to begin. I propose, +then, to solve the difficulty by apologising for beginning at all. + +For, usually and fitly, the presence of an introduction is held to +imply that there is something of consequence and importance to be +introduced. If, for example, a man has made an anthology of great +poetry, he may well write an introduction justifying his principle of +selection, pointing out here and there, as the spirit moves him, high +beauties and supreme excellencies, discoursing of the magnates and +lords and princes of literature, whom he is merely serving as groom of +the chamber. Introductions, that is, belong to the masterpieces and +classics of the world, to the great and ancient and accepted things; +and I am here introducing a short, small story of my own which +appeared in _The Evening News_ about ten months ago. + +I appreciate the absurdity, nay, the enormity of the position in all +its grossness. And my excuse for these pages must be this: that though +the story itself is nothing, it has yet had such odd and unforeseen +consequences and adventures that the tale of them may possess some +interest. And then, again, there are certain psychological morals to +be drawn from the whole matter of the tale and its sequel of rumours +and discussions that are not, I think, devoid of consequence; and so +to begin at the beginning. + + + +This was in last August, to be more precise, on the last Sunday of +last August. There were terrible things to be read on that hot Sunday +morning between meat and mass. It was in _The Weekly Dispatch_ that I +saw the awful account of the retreat from Mons. I no longer recollect +the details; but I have not forgotten the impression that was then on +my mind, I seemed to see a furnace of torment and death and agony and +terror seven times heated, and in the midst of the burning was the +British Army. In the midst of the flame, consumed by it and yet +aureoled in it, scattered like ashes and yet triumphant, martyred and +for ever glorious. So I saw our men with a shining about them, so I +took these thoughts with me to church, and, I am sorry to say, was +making up a story in my head while the deacon was singing the Gospel. + +This was not the tale of "The Bowmen". It was the first sketch, as it +were, of "The Soldiers' Rest". I only wish I had been able to write it +as I conceived it. The tale as it stands is, I think, a far better +piece of craft than "The Bowmen", but the tale that came to me as the +blue incense floated above the Gospel Book on the desk between the +tapers: that indeed was a noble story--like all the stories that never +get written. I conceived the dead men coming up through the flames and +in the flames, and being welcomed in the Eternal Tavern with songs and +flowing cups and everlasting mirth. But every man is the child of his +age, however much he may hate it; and our popular religion has long +determined that jollity is wicked. As far as I can make out modern +Protestantism believes that Heaven is something like Evensong in an +English cathedral, the service by Stainer and the Dean preaching. For +those opposed to dogma of any kind--even the mildest--I suppose it is +held that a Course of Ethical Lectures will be arranged. + +Well, I have long maintained that on the whole the average church, +considered as a house of preaching, is a much more poisonous place +than the average tavern; still, as I say, one's age masters one, and +clouds and bewilders the intelligence, and the real story of "The +Soldiers' Rest", with its "sonus epulantium in æterno convivio", was +ruined at the moment of its birth, and it was some time later that the +actual story got written. And in the meantime the plot of "The Bowmen" +occurred to me. Now it has been murmured and hinted and suggested and +whispered in all sorts of quarters that before I wrote the tale I had +heard something. The most decorative of these legends is also the most +precise: "I know for a fact that the whole thing was given him in +typescript by a lady-in-waiting." This was not the case; and all +vaguer reports to the effect that I had heard some rumours or hints of +rumours are equally void of any trace of truth. + +Again I apologise for entering so pompously into the minutiæ of my bit +of a story, as if it were the lost poems of Sappho; but it appears +that the subject interests the public, and I comply with my +instructions. I take it, then, that the origins of "The Bowmen" were +composite. First of all, all ages and nations have cherished the +thought that spiritual hosts may come to the help of earthly arms, +that gods and heroes and saints have descended from their high +immortal places to fight for their worshippers and clients. Then +Kipling's story of the ghostly Indian regiment got in my head and got +mixed with the mediævalism that is always there; and so "The Bowmen" +was written. I was heartily disappointed with it, I remember, and +thought it--as I still think it--an indifferent piece of work. +However, I have tried to write for these thirty-five long years, and +if I have not become practised in letters, I am at least a past master +in the Lodge of Disappointment. Such as it was, "The Bowmen" appeared +in _The Evening News_ of September 29th, 1914. + +Now the journalist does not, as a rule, dwell much on the prospect of +fame; and if he be an evening journalist, his anticipations of +immortality are bounded by twelve o'clock at night at the latest; and +it may well be that those insects which begin to live in the morning +and are dead by sunset deem themselves immortal. Having written my +story, having groaned and growled over it and printed it, I certainly +never thought to hear another word of it. My colleague "The Londoner" +praised it warmly to my face, as his kindly fashion is; entering, very +properly, a technical caveat as to the language of the battle-cries of +the bowmen. "Why should English archers use French terms?" he said. I +replied that the only reason was this--that a "Monseigneur" here and +there struck me as picturesque; and I reminded him that, as a matter +of cold historical fact, most of the archers of Agincourt were +mercenaries from Gwent, my native country, who would appeal to +Mihangel and to saints not known to the Saxons--Teilo, Iltyd, Dewi, +Cadwaladyr Vendigeid. And I thought that that was the first and last +discussion of "The Bowmen". But in a few days from its publication the +editor of _The Occult Review_ wrote to me. He wanted to know whether +the story had any foundation in fact. I told him that it had no +foundation in fact of any kind or sort; I forget whether I added that +it had no foundation in rumour but I should think not, since to the +best of my belief there were no rumours of heavenly interposition in +existence at that time. Certainly I had heard of none. Soon afterwards +the editor of _Light_ wrote asking a like question, and I made him a +like reply. It seemed to me that I had stifled any "Bowmen" mythos in +the hour of its birth. + +A month or two later, I received several requests from editors of +parish magazines to reprint the story. I--or, rather, my editor-- +readily gave permission; and then, after another month or two, the +conductor of one of these magazines wrote to me, saying that the +February issue containing the story had been sold out, while there was +still a great demand for it. Would I allow them to reprint "The +Bowmen" as a pamphlet, and would I write a short preface giving the +exact authorities for the story? I replied that they might reprint in +pamphlet form with all my heart, but that I could not give my +authorities, since I had none, the tale being pure invention. The +priest wrote again, suggesting--to my amazement--that I must be +mistaken, that the main "facts" of "The Bowmen" must be true, that my +share in the matter must surely have been confined to the elaboration +and decoration of a veridical history. It seemed that my light fiction +had been accepted by the congregation of this particular church as the +solidest of facts; and it was then that it began to dawn on me that if +I had failed in the art of letters, I had succeeded, unwittingly, in +the art of deceit. This happened, I should think, some time in April, +and the snowball of rumour that was then set rolling has been rolling +ever since, growing bigger and bigger, till it is now swollen to a +monstrous size. + +It was at about this period that variants of my tale began to be told +as authentic histories. At first, these tales betrayed their relation +to their original. In several of them the vegetarian restaurant +appeared, and St. George was the chief character. In one case an +officer--name and address missing--said that there was a portrait of +St. George in a certain London restaurant, and that a figure, just +like the portrait, appeared to him on the battlefield, and was invoked +by him, with the happiest results. Another variant--this, I think, +never got into print--told how dead Prussians had been found on the +battlefield with arrow wounds in their bodies. This notion amused me, +as I had imagined a scene, when I was thinking out the story, in which +a German general was to appear before the Kaiser to explain his +failure to annihilate the English. + +"All-Highest," the general was to say, "it is true, it is impossible +to deny it. The men were killed by arrows; the shafts were found in +their bodies by the burying parties." + +I rejected the idea as over-precipitous even for a mere fantasy. I was +therefore entertained when I found that what I had refused as too +fantastical for fantasy was accepted in certain occult circles as hard +fact. + +Other versions of the story appeared in which a cloud interposed +between the attacking Germans and the defending British. In some +examples the cloud served to conceal our men from the advancing enemy; +in others, it disclosed shining shapes which frightened the horses of +the pursuing German cavalry. St. George, it will he noted, has +disappeared--he persisted some time longer in certain Roman Catholic +variants--and there are no more bowmen, no more arrows. But so far +angels are not mentioned; yet they are ready to appear, and I think +that I have detected the machine which brought them into the story. + +In "The Bowmen" my imagined soldier saw "a long line of shapes, with a +shining about them." And Mr. A.P. Sinnett, writing in the May issue of +_The Occult Review_, reporting what he had heard, states that "those +who could see said they saw 'a row of shining beings' between the two +armies." Now I conjecture that the word "shining" is the link between +my tale and the derivative from it. In the popular view shining and +benevolent supernatural beings are angels, and so, I believe, the +Bowmen of my story have become "the Angels of Mons." In this shape +they have been received with respect and credence everywhere, or +almost everywhere. + +And here, I conjecture, we have the key to the large popularity of the +delusion--as I think it. We have long ceased in England to take much +interest in saints, and in the recent revival of the cultus of St. +George, the saint is little more than a patriotic figurehead. And the +appeal to the saints to succour us is certainly not a common English +practice; it is held Popish by most of our countrymen. But angels, +with certain reservations, have retained their popularity, and so, +when it was settled that the English army in its dire peril was +delivered by angelic aid, the way was clear for general belief, and +for the enthusiasms of the religion of the man in the street. And so +soon as the legend got the title "The Angels of Mons" it became +impossible to avoid it. It permeated the Press: it would not be +neglected; it appeared in the most unlikely quarters--in _Truth_ and +_Town Topics_, _The New Church Weekly_ (Swedenborgian) and _John +Bull_. The editor of _The Church Times_ has exercised a wise reserve: +he awaits that evidence which so far is lacking; but in one issue of +the paper I noted that the story furnished a text for a sermon, the +subject of a letter, and the matter for an article. People send me +cuttings from provincial papers containing hot controversy as to the +exact nature of the appearances; the "Office Window" of _The Daily +Chronicle_ suggests scientific explanations of the hallucination; the +_Pall Mall_ in a note about St. James says he is of the brotherhood of +the Bowmen of Mons--this reversion to the bowmen from the angels being +possibly due to the strong statements that I have made on the matter. +The pulpits both of the Church and of Non-conformity have been busy: +Bishop Welldon, Dean Hensley Henson (a disbeliever), Bishop Taylor +Smith (the Chaplain-General), and many other clergy have occupied +themselves with the matter. Dr. Horton preached about the "angels" at +Manchester; Sir Joseph Compton Rickett (President of the National +Federation of Free Church Councils) stated that the soldiers at the +front had seen visions and dreamed dreams, and had given testimony of +powers and principalities fighting for them or against them. Letters +come from all the ends of the earth to the Editor of _The Evening +News_ with theories, beliefs, explanations, suggestions. It is all +somewhat wonderful; one can say that the whole affair is a +psychological phenomenon of considerable interest, fairly comparable +with the great Russian delusion of last August and September. + + + * * * * * + + +Now it is possible that some persons, judging by the tone of these +remarks of mine, may gather the impression that I am a profound +disbeliever in the possibility of any intervention of the +super-physical order in the affairs of the physical order. They will +be mistaken if they make this inference; they will be mistaken if they +suppose that I think miracles in Judæa credible but miracles in France +or Flanders incredible. I hold no such absurdities. But I confess, +very frankly, that I credit none of the "Angels of Mons" legends, +partly because I see, or think I see, their derivation from my own +idle fiction, but chiefly because I have, so far, not received one jot +or tittle of evidence that should dispose me to belief. It is idle, +indeed, and foolish enough for a man to say: "I am sure that story is +a lie, because the supernatural element enters into it;" here, indeed, +we have the maggot writhing in the midst of corrupted offal denying +the existence of the sun. But if this fellow be a fool--as he is-- +equally foolish is he who says, "If the tale has anything of the +supernatural it is true, and the less evidence the better;" and I am +afraid this tends to be the attitude of many who call themselves +occultists. I hope that I shall never get to that frame of mind. So I +say, not that super-normal interventions are impossible, not that they +have not happened during this war--I know nothing as to that point, +one way or the other--but that there is not one atom of evidence (so +far) to support the current stories of the angels of Mons. For, be it +remarked, these stories are specific stories. They rest on the second, +third, fourth, fifth hand stories told by "a soldier," by "an +officer," by "a Catholic correspondent," by "a nurse," by any number +of anonymous people. Indeed, names have been mentioned. A lady's name +has been drawn, most unwarrantably as it appears to me, into the +discussion, and I have no doubt that this lady has been subject to a +good deal of pestering and annoyance. She has written to the Editor of +_The Evening News_ denying all knowledge of the supposed miracle. The +Psychical Research Society's expert confesses that no real evidence +has been proffered to her Society on the matter. And then, to my +amazement, she accepts as fact the proposition that some men on the +battlefield have been "hallucinated," and proceeds to give the theory +of sensory hallucination. She forgets that, by her own showing, there +is no reason to suppose that anybody has been hallucinated at all. +Someone (unknown) has met a nurse (unnamed) who has talked to a +soldier (anonymous) who has seen angels. But _that_ is not evidence; +and not even Sam Weller at his gayest would have dared to offer it as +such in the Court of Common Pleas. So far, then, nothing remotely +approaching proof has been offered as to any supernatural intervention +during the Retreat from Mons. Proof may come; if so, it will be +interesting and more than interesting. + + + +But, taking the affair as it stands at present, how is it that a +nation plunged in materialism of the grossest kind has accepted idle +rumours and gossip of the supernatural as certain truth? The answer is +contained in the question: it is precisely because our whole +atmosphere is materialist that we are ready to credit anything--save +the truth. Separate a man from good drink, he will swallow methylated +spirit with joy. Man is created to be inebriated; to be "nobly wild, +not mad." Suffer the Cocoa Prophets and their company to seduce him in +body and spirit, and he will get himself stuff that will make him +ignobly wild and mad indeed. It took hard, practical men of affairs, +business men, advanced thinkers, Freethinkers, to believe in Madame +Blavatsky and Mahatmas and the famous message from the Golden Shore: +"Judge's plan is right; follow him and _stick_." + +And the main responsibility for this dismal state of affairs +undoubtedly lies on the shoulders of the majority of the clergy of the +Church of England. Christianity, as Mr. W.L. Courtney has so admirably +pointed out, is a great Mystery Religion; it is _the_ Mystery +Religion. Its priests are called to an awful and tremendous hierurgy; +its pontiffs are to be the pathfinders, the bridge-makers between the +world of sense and the world of spirit. And, in fact, they pass their +time in preaching, not the eternal mysteries, but a twopenny morality, +in changing the Wine of Angels and the Bread of Heaven into gingerbeer +and mixed biscuits: a sorry transubstantiation, a sad alchemy, as it +seems to me. + + + + + +The Bowmen + +It was during the Retreat of the Eighty Thousand, and the authority of +the Censorship is sufficient excuse for not being more explicit. But +it was on the most awful day of that awful time, on the day when ruin +and disaster came so near that their shadow fell over London far away; +and, without any certain news, the hearts of men failed within them +and grew faint; as if the agony of the army in the battlefield had +entered into their souls. + +On this dreadful day, then, when three hundred thousand men in arms +with all their artillery swelled like a flood against the little +English company, there was one point above all other points in our +battle line that was for a time in awful danger, not merely of defeat, +but of utter annihilation. With the permission of the Censorship and +of the military expert, this corner may, perhaps, be described as a +salient, and if this angle were crushed and broken, then the English +force as a whole would be shattered, the Allied left would be turned, +and Sedan would inevitably follow. + +All the morning the German guns had thundered and shrieked against +this corner, and against the thousand or so of men who held it. The +men joked at the shells, and found funny names for them, and had bets +about them, and greeted them with scraps of music-hall songs. But the +shells came on and burst, and tore good Englishmen limb from limb, and +tore brother from brother, and as the heat of the day increased so did +the fury of that terrific cannonade. There was no help, it seemed. The +English artillery was good, but there was not nearly enough of it; it +was being steadily battered into scrap iron. + +There comes a moment in a storm at sea when people say to one another, +"It is at its worst; it can blow no harder," and then there is a blast +ten times more fierce than any before it. So it was in these British +trenches. + +There were no stouter hearts in the whole world than the hearts of +these men; but even they were appalled as this seven-times-heated +hell of the German cannonade fell upon them and overwhelmed them and +destroyed them. And at this very moment they saw from their trenches +that a tremendous host was moving against their lines. Five hundred of +the thousand remained, and as far as they could see the German +infantry was pressing on against them, column upon column, a grey +world of men, ten thousand of them, as it appeared afterwards. + +There was no hope at all. They shook hands, some of them. One man +improvised a new version of the battlesong, "Good-bye, good-bye to +Tipperary," ending with "And we shan't get there". And they all went +on firing steadily. The officers pointed out that such an opportunity +for high-class, fancy shooting might never occur again; the Germans +dropped line after line; the Tipperary humorist asked, "What price +Sidney Street?" And the few machine guns did their best. But everybody +knew it was of no use. The dead grey bodies lay in companies and +battalions, as others came on and on and on, and they swarmed and +stirred and advanced from beyond and beyond. + +"World without end. Amen," said one of the British soldiers with some +irrelevance as he took aim and fired. And then he remembered--he says +he cannot think why or wherefore--a queer vegetarian restaurant in +London where he had once or twice eaten eccentric dishes of cutlets +made of lentils and nuts that pretended to be steak. On all the plates +in this restaurant there was printed a figure of St. George in blue, +with the motto, _Adsit Anglis Sanctus Geogius_--May St. George be a +present help to the English. This soldier happened to know Latin and +other useless things, and now, as he fired at his man in the grey +advancing mass--300 yards away--he uttered the pious vegetarian +motto. He went on firing to the end, and at last Bill on his right had +to clout him cheerfully over the head to make him stop, pointing out +as he did so that the King's ammunition cost money and was not lightly +to be wasted in drilling funny patterns into dead Germans. + +For as the Latin scholar uttered his invocation he felt something +between a shudder and an electric shock pass through his body. The +roar of the battle died down in his ears to a gentle murmur; instead +of it, he says, he heard a great voice and a shout louder than a +thunder-peal crying, "Array, array, array!" + +His heart grew hot as a burning coal, it grew cold as ice within him, +as it seemed to him that a tumult of voices answered to his summons. +He heard, or seemed to hear, thousands shouting: "St. George! St. +George!" + +"Ha! messire; ha! sweet Saint, grant us good deliverance!" + +"St. George for merry England!" + +"Harow! Harow! Monseigneur St. George, succour us." + +"Ha! St. George! Ha! St. George! a long bow and a strong bow." + +"Heaven's Knight, aid us!" + +And as the soldier heard these voices he saw before him, beyond the +trench, a long line of shapes, with a shining about them. They were +like men who drew the bow, and with another shout their cloud of +arrows flew singing and tingling through the air towards the German +hosts. + +The other men in the trench were firing all the while. They had no +hope; but they aimed just as if they had been shooting at Bisley. +Suddenly one of them lifted up his voice in the plainest English, +"Gawd help us!" he bellowed to the man next to him, "but we're +blooming marvels! Look at those grey... gentlemen, look at them! D'ye +see them? They're not going down in dozens, nor in 'undreds; it's +thousands, it is. Look! look! there's a regiment gone while I'm +talking to ye." + +"Shut it!" the other soldier bellowed, taking aim, "what are ye +gassing about!" + +But he gulped with astonishment even as he spoke, for, indeed, the +grey men were falling by the thousands. The English could hear the +guttural scream of the German officers, the crackle of their revolvers +as they shot the reluctant; and still line after line crashed to the +earth. + +All the while the Latin-bred soldier heard the cry: "Harow! Harow! +Monseigneur, dear saint, quick to our aid! St. George help us!" + +"High Chevalier, defend us!" + +The singing arrows fled so swift and thick that they darkened the air; +the heathen horde melted from before them. + +"More machine guns!" Bill yelled to Tom. + +"Don't hear them," Tom yelled back. "But, thank God, anyway; they've +got it in the neck." + +In fact, there were ten thousand dead German soldiers left before that +salient of the English army, and consequently there was no Sedan. In +Germany, a country ruled by scientific principles, the Great General +Staff decided that the contemptible English must have employed shells +containing an unknown gas of a poisonous nature, as no wounds were +discernible on the bodies of the dead German soldiers. But the man who +knew what nuts tasted like when they called themselves steak knew also +that St. George had brought his Agincourt Bowmen to help the English. + + + + + +The Soldiers' Rest + +The soldier with the ugly wound in the head opened his eyes at last, +and looked about him with an air of pleasant satisfaction. + +He still felt drowsy and dazed with some fierce experience through +which he had passed, but so far he could not recollect much about it. +But--an agreeable glow began to steal about his heart--such a glow as +comes to people who have been in a tight place and have come through +it better than they had expected. In its mildest form this set of +emotions may be observed in passengers who have crossed the Channel on +a windy day without being sick. They triumph a little internally, and +are suffused with vague, kindly feelings. + +The wounded soldier was somewhat of this disposition as he opened his +eyes, pulled himself together, and looked about him. He felt a sense +of delicious ease and repose in bones that had been racked and weary, +and deep in the heart that had so lately been tormented there was an +assurance of comfort--of the battle won. The thundering, roaring waves +were passed; he had entered into the haven of calm waters. After +fatigues and terrors that as yet he could not recollect he seemed now +to be resting in the easiest of all easy chairs in a dim, low room. + +In the hearth there was a glint of fire and a blue, sweet-scented puff +of wood smoke; a great black oak beam roughly hewn crossed the +ceiling. Through the leaded panes of the windows he saw a rich glow of +sunlight, green lawns, and against the deepest and most radiant of all +blue skies the wonderful far-lifted towers of a vast, Gothic +cathedral--mystic, rich with imagery. + +"Good Lord!" he murmured to himself. "I didn't know they had such +places in France. It's just like Wells. And it might be the other day +when I was going past the Swan, just as it might be past that window, +and asked the ostler what time it was, and he says, 'What time? Why, +summer-time'; and there outside it looks like summer that would last +for ever. If this was an inn they ought to call it _The Soldiers' +Rest_." + +He dozed off again, and when he opened his eyes once more a kindly +looking man in some sort of black robe was standing by him. + +"It's all right now, isn't it?" he said, speaking in good English. + +"Yes, thank you, sir, as right as can be. I hope to be back again +soon." + +"Well well; but how did you come here? Where did you get that?" He +pointed to the wound on the soldier's forehead. + +The soldier put his hand: up to his brow and looked dazed and puzzled. + +"Well, sir," he said at last, "it was like this, to begin at the +beginning. You know how we came over in August, and there we were in +the thick of it, as you might say, in a day or two. An awful time it +was, and I don't know how I got through it alive. My best friend was +killed dead beside me as we lay in the trenches. By Cambrai, I think +it was. + +"Then things got a little quieter for a bit, and I was quartered in a +village for the best part of a week. She was a very nice lady where I +was, and she treated me proper with the best of everything. Her +husband he was fighting; but she had the nicest little boy I ever +knew, a little fellow of five, or six it might be, and we got on +splendid. The amount of their lingo that kid taught me--'We, we' and +'Bong swot' and 'Commong voo potty we' and all--and I taught him +English. You should have heard that nipper say ''Arf a mo', old un!' +It was a treat. + +"Then one day we got surprised. There was about a dozen of us in the +village, and two or three hundred Germans came down on us early one +morning. They got us; no help for 'it. Before we could shoot. + +"Well there we were. They tied our hands behind our backs, and smacked +our faces and kicked us a bit, and we were lined up opposite the house +where I'd been staying. + +"And then that poor little chap broke away from his mother, and he run +out and saw one of the Boshes, as we call them, fetch me one over the +jaw with his clenched fist. Oh dear! oh dear! he might have done it a +dozen times if only that little child hadn't seen him. + +"He had a poor bit of a toy I'd bought him at the village shop; a toy +gun it was. And out he came running, as I say, Crying out something in +French like 'Bad man! bad man! don't hurt my Anglish or I shoot you'; +and he pointed that gun at the German soldier. The German, he took his +bayonet, and he drove it right through the poor little chap's throat." + +The soldier's face worked and twitched and twisted itself into a sort +of grin, and he sat grinding his teeth and staring at the man in the +black robe. He was silent for a little. And then he found his voice, +and the oaths rolled terrible, thundering from him, as he cursed that +murderous wretch, and bade him go down and burn for ever in hell. And +the tears were raining down his face, and they choked him at last. + +"I beg your pardon, sir, I'm sure," he said, "especially you being a +minister of some kind, I suppose; but I can't help it, he was such a +dear little man." + +The man in black murmured something to himself: "_Pretiosa in +conspectu Domini mors innocentium ejus_"--Dear in the sight of the +Lord is the death of His innocents. Then he put a hand very gently on +the soldier's shoulder. + +"Never mind," said he; "I've seen some service in my time, myself. But +what about that wound?" + +"Oh, that; that's nothing. But I'll tell you how I got it. It was just +like this. The Germans had us fair, as I tell you, and they shut us up +in a barn in the village; just flung us on the ground and left us to +starve seemingly. They barred up the big door of the barn, and put a +sentry there, and thought we were all right. + +"There were sort of slits like very narrow windows in one of the +walls, and on the second day it was, I was looking out of these slits +down the street, and I could see those German devils were up to +mischief. They were planting their machine-guns everywhere handy where +an ordinary man coming up the street would never see them, but I see +them, and I see the infantry lining up behind the garden walls. Then I +had a sort of a notion of what was coming; and presently, sure +enough, I could hear some of our chaps singing 'Hullo, hullo, hullo!' +in the distance; and I says to myself, 'Not this time.' + +"So I looked about me, and I found a hole under the wall; a kind of a +drain I should think it was, and I found I could just squeeze through. +And I got out and crept, round, and away I goes running down the +street, yelling for all I was worth, just as our chaps were getting +round the corner at the bottom. 'Bang, bang!' went the guns, behind me +and in front of me, and on each side of me, and then--bash! something +hit me on the head and over I went; and I don't remember anything more +till I woke up here just now." + +The soldier lay back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment. +When he opened them he saw that there were other people in the room +besides the minister in the black robes. One was a man in a big black +cloak. He had a grim old face and a great beaky nose. He shook the +soldier by the hand. + +"By God! sir," he said, "you're a credit to the British Army; you're a +damned fine soldier and a good man, and, by God! I'm proud to shake +hands with you." + +And then someone came out of the shadow, someone in queer clothes such +as the soldier had seen worn by the heralds when he had been on duty +at the opening of Parliament by the King. + +"Now, by _Corpus Domini_," this man said, "of all knights ye be +noblest and gentlest, and ye be of fairest report, and now ye be a +brother of the noblest brotherhood that ever was since this world's +beginning, since ye have yielded dear life for your friends' sake." + +The soldier did not understand what the man was saying to him. There +were others, too, in strange dresses, who came and spoke to him. Some +spoke in what sounded like French. He could not make it out; but he +knew that they all spoke kindly and praised him. + +"What does it all mean?" he said to the minister. "What are they +talking about? They don't think I'd let down my pals?" + +"Drink this," said the minister, and he handed the soldier a great +silver cup, brimming with wine. + +The soldier took a deep draught, and in that moment all his sorrows +passed from him. + +"What is it?" he asked? + +"_Vin nouveau du Royaume_," said the minister. "New Wine of the +Kingdom, you call it." And then he bent down and murmured in the +soldier's ear. + +"What," said the wounded man, "the place they used to tell us about in +Sunday school? With such drink and such joy--" + +His voice was hushed. For as he looked at the minister the fashion of +his vesture was changed. The black robe seemed to melt away from him. +He was all in armour, if armour be made of starlight, of the rose of +dawn, and of sunset fires; and he lifted up a great sword of flame. + + Full in the midst, his Cross of Red Triumphant Michael brandished, + And trampled the Apostate's pride. + + + + + +The Monstrance + + Then it fell out in the sacring of the Mass that right as the + priest heaved up the Host there came a beam redder than any rose and + smote upon it, and then it was changed bodily into the shape and + fashion of a Child having his arms stretched forth, as he had been + nailed upon the Tree.--Old Romance. + +So far things were going very well indeed. The night was thick and +black and cloudy, and the German force had come three-quarters of their +way or more without an alarm. There was no challenge from the English +lines; and indeed the English were being kept busy by a high shell-fire +on their front. This had been the German plan; and it was coming off +admirably. Nobody thought that there was any danger on the left; and so +the Prussians, writhing on their stomachs over the ploughed field, were +drawing nearer and nearer to the wood. Once there they could establish +themselves comfortably and securely during what remained of the night; +and at dawn the English left would be hopelessly enfiladed--and there +would be another of those movements which people who really understand +military matters call "readjustments of our line." + +The noise made by the men creeping and crawling over the fields was +drowned by the cannonade, from the English side as well as the German. +On the English centre and right things were indeed very brisk; the big +guns were thundering and shrieking and roaring, the machine-guns were +keeping up the very devil's racket; the flares and illuminating shells +were as good as the Crystal Palace in the old days, as the soldiers +said to one another. All this had been thought of and thought out on +the other side. The German force was beautifully organised. The men who +crept nearer and nearer to the wood carried quite a number of machine +guns in bits on their backs; others of them had small bags full of +sand; yet others big bags that were empty. When the wood was reached +the sand from the small bags was to be emptied into the big bags; the +machine-gun parts were to be put together, the guns mounted behind the +sandbag redoubt, and then, as Major Von und Zu pleasantly observed, +"the English pigs shall to gehenna-fire quickly come." + +The major was so well pleased with the way things had gone that he +permitted himself a very low and guttural chuckle; in another ten +minutes success would be assured. He half turned his head round to +whisper a caution about some detail of the sandbag business to the big +sergeant-major, Karl Heinz, who was crawling just behind him. At that +instant Karl Heinz leapt into the air with a scream that rent through +the night and through all the roaring of the artillery. He cried in a +terrible voice, "The Glory of the Lord!" and plunged and pitched +forward, stone dead. They said that his face as he stood up there and +cried aloud was as if it had been seen through a sheet of flame. + +"They" were one or two out of the few who got back to the German lines. +Most of the Prussians stayed in the ploughed field. Karl Heinz's scream +had frozen the blood of the English soldiers, but it had also ruined +the major's plans. He and his men, caught all unready, clumsy with the +burdens that they carried, were shot to pieces; hardly a score of them +returned. The rest of the force were attended to by an English burying +party. According to custom the dead men were searched before they were +buried, and some singular relies of the campaign were found upon them, +but nothing so singular as Karl Heinz's diary. + +He had been keeping it for some time. It began with entries about +bread and sausage and the ordinary incidents of the trenches; here +and there Karl wrote about an old grandfather, and a big china pipe, +and pinewoods and roast goose. Then the diarist seemed to get fidgety +about his health. Thus: + + April 17.--Annoyed for some days by murmuring sounds in my head. I + trust I shall not become deaf, like my departed uncle Christopher. + + April 20.--The noise in my head grows worse; it is a humming sound. + It distracts me; twice I have failed to hear the captain and have + been reprimanded. + + April 22.--So bad is my head that I go to see the doctor. He speaks + of tinnitus, and gives me an inhaling apparatus that shall reach, he + says, the middle ear. + + April 25.--The apparatus is of no use. The sound is now become like + the booming of a great church bell. It reminds me of the bell at St. + Lambart on that terrible day of last August. + + April 26.--I could swear that it is the bell of St. Lambart that I + hear all the time. They rang it as the procession came out of the + church. + +The man's writing, at first firm enough, begins to straggle unevenly +over the page at this point. The entries show that he became convinced +that he heard the bell of St. Lambart's Church ringing, though (as he +knew better than most men) there had been no bell and no church at St. +Lambart's since the summer of 1914. There was no village either--the +whole place was a rubbish-heap. + +Then the unfortunate Karl Heinz was beset with other troubles. + + May 2.--I fear I am becoming ill. To-day Joseph Kleist, who is next + to me in the trench, asked me why I jerked my head to the right so + constantly. I told him to hold his tongue; but this shows that I am + noticed. I keep fancying that there is something white just beyond + the range of my sight on the right hand. + + May 3.--This whiteness is now quite clear, and in front of me. All + this day it has slowly passed before me. I asked Joseph Kleist if he + saw a piece of newspaper just beyond the trench. He stared at me + solemnly--he is a stupid fool--and said, "There is no paper." + + May 4.--It looks like a white robe. There was a strong smell of + incense to-day in the trench. No one seemed to notice it. There is + decidedly a white robe, and I think I can see feet, passing very + slowly before me at this moment while I write. + +There is no space here for continuous extracts from Karl Heinz's diary. +But to condense with severity, it would seem that he slowly gathered +about himself a complete set of sensory hallucinations. First the +auditory hallucination of the sound of a bell, which the doctor called +tinnitus. Then a patch of white growing into a white robe, then the +smell of incense. At last he lived in two worlds. He saw his trench, +and the level before it, and the English lines; he talked with his +comrades and obeyed orders, though with a certain difficulty; but he +also heard the deep boom of St. Lambart's bell, and saw continually +advancing towards him a white procession of little children, led by a +boy who was swinging a censer. There is one extraordinary entry: "But +in August those children carried no lilies; now they have lilies in +their hands. Why should they have lilies?" + +It is interesting to note the transition over the border line. After +May 2 there is no reference in the diary to bodily illness, with two +notable exceptions. Up to and including that date the sergeant knows +that he is suffering from illusions; after that he accepts his +hallucinations as actualities. The man who cannot see what he sees and +hear what he hears is a fool. So he writes: "I ask who is singing 'Ave +Maria Stella.' That blockhead Friedrich Schumacher raises his crest and +answers insolently that no one sings, since singing is strictly +forbidden for the present." + +A few days before the disastrous night expedition the last figure in +the procession appeared to those sick eyes. + + The old priest now comes in his golden robe, the two boys holding + each side of it. He is looking just as he did when he died, save + that when he walked in St. Lambart there was no shining round his + head. But this is illusion and contrary to reason, since no one has + a shining about his head. I must take some medicine. + +Note here that Karl Heinz absolutely accepts the appearance of the +martyred priest of St. Lambart as actual, while he thinks that the halo +must be an illusion; and so he reverts again to his physical condition. + +The priest held up both his hands, the diary states, "as if there were +something between them. But there is a sort of cloud or dimness over +this object, whatever it may be. My poor Aunt Kathie suffered much +from her eyes in her old age." + + * * * * * + +One can guess what the priest of St. Lambart carried in his hands when +he and the little children went out into the hot sunlight to implore +mercy, while the great resounding bell of St. Lambart boomed over the +plain. Karl Heinz knew what happened then; they said that it was he +who killed the old priest and helped to crucify the little child +against the church door. The baby was only three years old. He died +calling piteously for "mummy" and "daddy." + + * * * * * + +And those who will may guess what Karl Heinz saw when the mist cleared +from before the monstrance in the priest's hands. Then he shrieked and +died. + + + + + +The Dazzling Light + + The new head-covering is made of heavy steel, which has been + specialty treated to increase its resisting power. The walls + protecting the skull are particularly thick, and the weight of the + helmet renders its use in open warfare out of the question. The rim + is large, like that of the headpiece of Mambrino, and the soldier + can at will either bring the helmet forward and protect his eyes or + wear it so as to protect the base of the skull . . . Military + experts admit that continuance of the present trench warfare may + lead to those engaged in it, especially bombing parties and barbed + wire cutters, being more heavily armoured than the knights, who + fought at Bouvines and at Agincourt.--_The Times_, July 22, 1915 + +The war is already a fruitful mother of legends. Some people think +that there are too many war legends, and a Croydon gentleman--or lady, +I am not sure which--wrote to me quite recently telling me that a +certain particular legend, which I will not specify, had become the +"chief horror of the war." There may be something to be said for this +point of view, but it strikes me as interesting that the old +myth-making faculty has survived into these days, a relic of noble, +far-off Homeric battles. And after all, what do we know? It does not +do to be too sure that this, that, or the other hasn't happened and +couldn't have happened. + +What follows, at any rate, has no claim to be considered either as +legend or as myth. It is merely one of the odd circumstances of these +times, and I have no doubt it can easily be "explained away." In fact, +the rationalistic explanation of the whole thing is patent and on the +surface. There is only one little difficulty, and that, I fancy, is by +no means insuperable. In any case this one knot or tangle may be put +down as a queer coincidence and nothing more. + +Here, then, is the curiosity or oddity in question. A young fellow, +whom we will call for avoidance of all identification Delamere Smith-- +he is now Lieutenant Delamere Smith--was spending his holidays on the +coast of west South Wales at the beginning of the war. He was +something or other not very important in the City, and in his leisure +hours he smattered lightly and agreeably a little literature, a little +art, a little antiquarianism. He liked the Italian primitives, he knew +the difference between first, second, and third pointed, he had looked +through Boutell's "Engraved Brasses." He had been heard indeed to +speak with enthusiasm of the brasses of Sir Robert de Septvans and Sir +Roger de Trumpington. + +One morning--he thinks it must have been the morning of August 16, +1914--the sun shone so brightly into his room that he woke early, and +the fancy took him that it would be fine to sit on the cliffs in the +pure sunlight. So he dressed and went out, and climbed up Giltar +Point, and sat there enjoying the sweet air and the radiance of the +sea, and the sight of the fringe of creaming foam about the grey +foundations of St. Margaret's Island. Then he looked beyond and gazed +at the new white monastery on Caldy, and wondered who the architect +was, and how he had contrived to make the group of buildings look +exactly like the background of a mediæval picture. + +After about an hour of this and a couple of pipes, Smith confesses +that he began to feel extremely drowsy. He was just wondering whether +it would be pleasant to stretch himself out on the wild thyme that +scented the high place and go to sleep till breakfast, when the +mounting sun caught one of the monastery windows, and Smith stared +sleepily at the darting flashing light till it dazzled him. Then he +felt "queer." There was an odd sensation as if the top of his head +were dilating and contracting, and then he says he had a sort of +shock, something between a mild current of electricity and the +sensation of putting one's hand into the ripple of a swift brook. + +Now, what happened next Smith cannot describe at all clearly. He knew +he was on Giltar, looking across the waves to Caldy; he heard all the +while the hollow, booming tide in the caverns of the rocks far below +him, And yet he saw, as if in a glass, a very different country--a +level fenland cut by slow streams, by long avenues of trimmed trees. + +"It looked," he says, "as if it ought to have been a lonely country, +but it was swarming with men; they were thick as ants in an anthill. +And they were all dressed in armour; that was the strange thing about +it. + +"I thought I was standing by what looked as if it had been a +farmhouse; but it was all battered to bits, just a heap of ruins and +rubbish. All that was left was one tall round chimney, shaped very +much like the fifteenth-century chimneys in Pembrokeshire. And +thousands and tens of thousands went marching by. + +"They were all in armour, and in all sorts of armour. Some of them had +overlapping tongues of bright metal fastened on their clothes, others +were in chain mail from head to foot, others were in heavy plate +armour. + +"They wore helmets of all shapes and sorts and sizes. One regiment had +steel caps with wide trims, something like the old barbers' basins. +Another lot had knights' tilting helmets on, closed up so that you +couldn't see their faces. Most of them wore metal gauntlets, either of +steel rings or plates, and they had steel over their boots. A great +many had things like battle-maces swinging by their sides, and all +these fellows carried a sort of string of big metal balls round their +waist. Then a dozen regiments went by, every man with a steel shield +slung over his shoulder. The last to go by were cross-bowmen." + +In fact, it appeared to Delamere Smith that he watched the passing of +a host of men in mediæval armour before him, and yet he knew--by the +position of the sun and of a rosy cloud that was passing over the +Worm's Head--that this vision, or whatever it was, only lasted a +second or two. Then that slight sense of shock returned, and Smith +returned to the contemplation of the physical phenomena of the +Pembrokeshire coast--blue waves, grey St. Margaret's, and Caldy Abbey +white in the sunlight. + +It will be said, no doubt, and very likely with truth, that Smith fell +asleep on Giltar, and mingled in a dream the thought of the great war +just begun with his smatterings of mediæval battle and arms and +armour. The explanation seems tolerable enough. + +But there is the one little difficulty. It has been said that Smith is +now Lieutenant Smith. He got his commission last autumn, and went out +in May. He happens to speak French rather well, and so he has become +what is called, I believe, an officer of liaison, or some such term. +Anyhow, he is often behind the French lines. + +He was home on short leave last week, and said: + +"Ten days ago I was ordered to ----. I got there early in the morning, +and had to wait a bit before I could see the General. I looked about +me, and there on the left of us was a farm shelled into a heap of +ruins, with one round chimney standing, shaped like the 'Flemish' +chimneys in Pembrokeshire. And then the men in armour marched by, just +as I had seen them--French regiments. The things like battle-maces +were bomb-throwers, and the metal balls round the men's waists were +the bombs. They told me that the cross-bows were used for +bomb-shooting. + +"The march I saw was part of a big movement; you will hear more of it +before long." + + + + + +The Bowmen And Other Noble Ghosts + +By "The Londoner" + +There was a journalist--and the _Evening News_ reader well knows the +initials of his name--who lately sat down to write a story. + + * * + +Of course his story had to be about the war; there are no other +stories nowadays. And so he wrote of English soldiers who, in the dusk +on a field of France, faced the sullen mass of the oncoming Huns. They +were few against fearful odds, but, as they sent the breech-bolt home +and aimed and fired, they became aware that others fought beside them. +Down the air came cries to St. George and twanging of the bow-string; +the old bowmen of England had risen at England's need from their +graves in that French earth and were fighting for England. + + * * + +He said that he made up that story by himself, that he sat down and +wrote it out of his head. But others knew better. It must really have +happened. There was, I remember, a clergyman of good credit who told +him that he was clean mistaken; the archers had really and truly risen +up to fight for England: the tale was all up and down the front. + +For my part I had thought that he wrote out of his head; I had seen +him at the detestable job of doing it. I myself have hated this +business of writing ever since I found out that it was not so easy as +it looks, and I can always spare a little sympathy for a man who is +driving a pen to the task of putting words in their right places. Yet +the clergyman persuaded me at last. Who am I that I should doubt the +faith of a clerk in holy orders? It must have happened. Those archers +fought for us, and the grey-goose feather has flown once again in +English battle. + + * * + +Since that day I look eagerly for the ghosts who must be taking their +share in this world-war. Never since the world began was such a war as +this: surely Marlborough and the Duke, Talbot and Harry of Monmouth, +and many another shadowy captain must be riding among our horsemen. +The old gods of war are wakened by this loud clamour of the guns. + + * * + +All the lands are astir. It is not enough that Asia should be humming +like an angry hive and the far islands in arms, Australia sending her +young men and Canada making herself a camp. When we talk over the war +news, we call up ancient names: we debate how Rome stands and what is +the matter with Greece. + + * * + +As for Greece, I have ceased to talk of her. If I wanted to say +anything about Greece I should get down the Poetry Book and quote Lord +Byron's fine old ranting verse. "The mountains look on Marathon--and +Marathon looks on the sea." But "standing on the Persians' grave" +Greece seems in the same humour that made Lord Byron give her up as a +hopelessly flabby country. + + * * + +"'Tis Greece, but living Greece no more" is as true as ever it was. +That last telegram of the Kaiser must have done its soothing work. You +remember how it ran: the Kaiser was too busy to make up new phrases. +He telegraphed to his sister the familiar Potsdam sentence: "Woe to +those who dare to draw the sword against me." I am sure that I have +heard that before. And he added--delightful and significant +postscript!--"My compliments to Tino." + + * * + +And Tino--King Constantine of the Hellenes--understood. He is in bed +now with a very bad cold, and like to stay in bed until the weather be +more settled. But before going to bed he was able to tell a journalist +that Greece was going quietly on with her proper business; it was her +mission to carry civilisation to the world. Truly that was the mission +of ancient Greece. What we get from Tino's modern Greece is not +civilisation but the little black currants for plum-cake. + + * * + +But Rome. Greece may be dead or in the currant trade. Rome is alive +and immortal. Do not talk to me about Signor Giolitti, who is quite +sure that the only things that matter in this new Italy, which is old +Rome, are her commercial relations with Germany. Rome of the legions, +our ancient mistress and conqueror, is alive to-day, and she cannot be +for an ignoble peace. Here in my newspaper is the speech of a poet +spoken in Rome to a shouting crowd: I will cut out the column and put +it in the Poetry Book. + + * * + +He calls to the living and to the dead: "I saw the fire of Vesta, O +Romans, lit yesterday in the great steel works of Liguria, The +fountain of Juturna, O Romans, I saw its water run to temper armour, +to chill the drills that hollow out the bore of guns." This is poetry +of the old Roman sort. I imagine that scene in Rome: the latest poet +of Rome calling upon the Romans in the name of Vesta's holy fire, in +the name of the springs at which the Great Twin Brethren washed their +horses. I still believe in the power and the ancient charm of noble +words. I do not think that Giolitti and the stockbrokers will keep old +Rome off the old roads where the legions went. + + + + + +Postscript + +While this volume was passing through the press, Mr. Ralph Shirley, +the Editor of "The Occult Review" called my attention to an article +that is appearing in the August issue of his magazine, and was kind +enough to let me see the advance proof sheets. + +The article is called "The Angelic Leaders" It is written by Miss +Phyllis Campbell. I have read it with great care. + +Miss Campbell says that she was in France when the war broke out. She +became a nurse, and while she was nursing the wounded she was informed +that an English soldier wanted a "holy picture." She went to the man +and found him to be a Lancashire Fusilier. He said that he was a +Wesleyan Methodist, and asked "for a picture or medal (he didn't care +which) of St. George... because he had seen him on a white horse, +leading the British at Vitry-le-François, when the Allies turned" + +This statement was corroborated by a wounded R.F.A. man who was +present. He saw a tall man with yellow hair, in golden armour, on a +white horse, holding his sword up, and his mouth open as if he was +saying, "Come on, boys! I'll put the kybosh on the devils" This figure +was bareheaded--as appeared later from the testimony of other +soldiers--and the R.F.A. man and the Fusilier knew that he was St. +George, because he was exactly like the figure of St. George on the +sovereigns. "Hadn't they seen him with his sword on every 'quid' +they'd ever had?" + +From further evidence it seemed that while the English had seen the +apparition of St. George coming out of a "yellow mist" or "cloud of +light," to the French had been vouchsafed visions of St. Michael the +Archangel and Joan of Arc. Miss Campbell says:-- + + "Everybody has seen them who has fought through from Mons to Ypres; + they all agree on them individually, and have no doubt at all as to + the final issue of their interference" + +Such are the main points of the article as it concerns the great +legend of "The Angels of Mons." I cannot say that the author has +shaken my incredulity--firstly, because the evidence is second-hand. +Miss Campbell is perhaps acquainted with "Pickwick" and I would remind +her of that famous (and golden) ruling of Stareleigh, J.: to the +effect that you mustn't tell us what the soldier said; it's not +evidence. Miss Campbell has offended against this rule, and she has +not only told us what the soldier said, but she has omitted to give us +the soldier's name and address. + +If Miss Campbell proffered herself as a witness at the Old Bailey and +said, "John Doe is undoubtedly guilty. A soldier I met told me that he +had seen the prisoner put his hand into an old gentleman's pocket and +take out a purse"--well, she would find that the stout spirit of Mr. +Justice Stareleigh still survives in our judges. + +The soldier must be produced. Before that is done we are not +technically aware that he exists at all. + +Then there are one or two points in the article itself which puzzle +me. The Fusilier and the R.F.A. man had seen "St, George leading the +British at Vitry-le-François, when the Allies turned." Thus the time +of the apparition and the place of the apparition were firmly fixed in +the two soldiers' minds. + +Yet the very next paragraph in the article begins:-- + + "'Where was this ?' I asked. But neither of them could tell" + +This is an odd circumstance. They knew, and yet they did not know; or, +rather, they had forgotten a piece of information that they had +themselves imparted a few seconds before. + +Another point. The soldiers knew that the figure on the horse was St. +George by his exact likeness to the figure of the saint on the English +sovereign. + +This, again, is odd. The apparition was of a bareheaded figure in +golden armour. The St. George of the coinage is naked, except for a +short cape flying from the shoulders, and a helmet. He is not +bareheaded, and has no armour--save the piece on his head. I do not +quite see how the soldiers were so certain as to the identity of the +apparition. + +Lastly, Miss Campbell declares that "everybody" who fought from Mons +to Ypres saw the apparitions. If that be so, it is again odd that +Nobody has come forward to testify at first hand to the most amazing +event of his life. Many men have been back on leave from the front, we +have many wounded in hospital, many soldiers have written letters +home. And they have all combined, this great host, to keep silence as +to the most wonderful of occurrences, the most inspiring assurance, +the surest omen of victory. + +It may be so, but-- + +Arthur Machen. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14044 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2ec00d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14044 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14044) diff --git a/old/14044-8.txt b/old/14044-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..06726b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14044-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1553 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Angels of Mons, by Arthur Machen + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Angels of Mons + +Author: Arthur Machen + +Release Date: November 14, 2004 [eBook #14044] +[This file last updated: February 14, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANGELS OF MONS*** + + +E-text prepared by Tom Harris + + + +THE ANGELS OF MONS + +The Bowmen and Other Legends of the War + +by + +ARTHUR MACHEN + +1915 + + + + + + + +Introduction + +I have been asked to write an introduction to the story of "The +Bowmen", on its publication in book form together with three other +tales of similar fashion. And I hesitate. This affair of "The Bowmen" +has been such an odd one from first to last, so many queer +complications have entered into it, there have been so many and so +divers currents and cross-currents of rumour and speculation +concerning it, that I honestly do not know where to begin. I propose, +then, to solve the difficulty by apologising for beginning at all. + +For, usually and fitly, the presence of an introduction is held to +imply that there is something of consequence and importance to be +introduced. If, for example, a man has made an anthology of great +poetry, he may well write an introduction justifying his principle of +selection, pointing out here and there, as the spirit moves him, high +beauties and supreme excellencies, discoursing of the magnates and +lords and princes of literature, whom he is merely serving as groom of +the chamber. Introductions, that is, belong to the masterpieces and +classics of the world, to the great and ancient and accepted things; +and I am here introducing a short, small story of my own which +appeared in _The Evening News_ about ten months ago. + +I appreciate the absurdity, nay, the enormity of the position in all +its grossness. And my excuse for these pages must be this: that though +the story itself is nothing, it has yet had such odd and unforeseen +consequences and adventures that the tale of them may possess some +interest. And then, again, there are certain psychological morals to +be drawn from the whole matter of the tale and its sequel of rumours +and discussions that are not, I think, devoid of consequence; and so +to begin at the beginning. + + + +This was in last August, to be more precise, on the last Sunday of +last August. There were terrible things to be read on that hot Sunday +morning between meat and mass. It was in _The Weekly Dispatch_ that I +saw the awful account of the retreat from Mons. I no longer recollect +the details; but I have not forgotten the impression that was then on +my mind, I seemed to see a furnace of torment and death and agony and +terror seven times heated, and in the midst of the burning was the +British Army. In the midst of the flame, consumed by it and yet +aureoled in it, scattered like ashes and yet triumphant, martyred and +for ever glorious. So I saw our men with a shining about them, so I +took these thoughts with me to church, and, I am sorry to say, was +making up a story in my head while the deacon was singing the Gospel. + +This was not the tale of "The Bowmen". It was the first sketch, as it +were, of "The Soldiers' Rest". I only wish I had been able to write it +as I conceived it. The tale as it stands is, I think, a far better +piece of craft than "The Bowmen", but the tale that came to me as the +blue incense floated above the Gospel Book on the desk between the +tapers: that indeed was a noble story--like all the stories that never +get written. I conceived the dead men coming up through the flames and +in the flames, and being welcomed in the Eternal Tavern with songs and +flowing cups and everlasting mirth. But every man is the child of his +age, however much he may hate it; and our popular religion has long +determined that jollity is wicked. As far as I can make out modern +Protestantism believes that Heaven is something like Evensong in an +English cathedral, the service by Stainer and the Dean preaching. For +those opposed to dogma of any kind--even the mildest--I suppose it is +held that a Course of Ethical Lectures will be arranged. + +Well, I have long maintained that on the whole the average church, +considered as a house of preaching, is a much more poisonous place +than the average tavern; still, as I say, one's age masters one, and +clouds and bewilders the intelligence, and the real story of "The +Soldiers' Rest", with its "sonus epulantium in æterno convivio", was +ruined at the moment of its birth, and it was some time later that the +actual story got written. And in the meantime the plot of "The Bowmen" +occurred to me. Now it has been murmured and hinted and suggested and +whispered in all sorts of quarters that before I wrote the tale I had +heard something. The most decorative of these legends is also the most +precise: "I know for a fact that the whole thing was given him in +typescript by a lady-in-waiting." This was not the case; and all +vaguer reports to the effect that I had heard some rumours or hints of +rumours are equally void of any trace of truth. + +Again I apologise for entering so pompously into the minutiæ of my bit +of a story, as if it were the lost poems of Sappho; but it appears +that the subject interests the public, and I comply with my +instructions. I take it, then, that the origins of "The Bowmen" were +composite. First of all, all ages and nations have cherished the +thought that spiritual hosts may come to the help of earthly arms, +that gods and heroes and saints have descended from their high +immortal places to fight for their worshippers and clients. Then +Kipling's story of the ghostly Indian regiment got in my head and got +mixed with the mediævalism that is always there; and so "The Bowmen" +was written. I was heartily disappointed with it, I remember, and +thought it--as I still think it--an indifferent piece of work. +However, I have tried to write for these thirty-five long years, and +if I have not become practised in letters, I am at least a past master +in the Lodge of Disappointment. Such as it was, "The Bowmen" appeared +in _The Evening News_ of September 29th, 1914. + +Now the journalist does not, as a rule, dwell much on the prospect of +fame; and if he be an evening journalist, his anticipations of +immortality are bounded by twelve o'clock at night at the latest; and +it may well be that those insects which begin to live in the morning +and are dead by sunset deem themselves immortal. Having written my +story, having groaned and growled over it and printed it, I certainly +never thought to hear another word of it. My colleague "The Londoner" +praised it warmly to my face, as his kindly fashion is; entering, very +properly, a technical caveat as to the language of the battle-cries of +the bowmen. "Why should English archers use French terms?" he said. I +replied that the only reason was this--that a "Monseigneur" here and +there struck me as picturesque; and I reminded him that, as a matter +of cold historical fact, most of the archers of Agincourt were +mercenaries from Gwent, my native country, who would appeal to +Mihangel and to saints not known to the Saxons--Teilo, Iltyd, Dewi, +Cadwaladyr Vendigeid. And I thought that that was the first and last +discussion of "The Bowmen". But in a few days from its publication the +editor of _The Occult Review_ wrote to me. He wanted to know whether +the story had any foundation in fact. I told him that it had no +foundation in fact of any kind or sort; I forget whether I added that +it had no foundation in rumour but I should think not, since to the +best of my belief there were no rumours of heavenly interposition in +existence at that time. Certainly I had heard of none. Soon afterwards +the editor of _Light_ wrote asking a like question, and I made him a +like reply. It seemed to me that I had stifled any "Bowmen" mythos in +the hour of its birth. + +A month or two later, I received several requests from editors of +parish magazines to reprint the story. I--or, rather, my editor-- +readily gave permission; and then, after another month or two, the +conductor of one of these magazines wrote to me, saying that the +February issue containing the story had been sold out, while there was +still a great demand for it. Would I allow them to reprint "The +Bowmen" as a pamphlet, and would I write a short preface giving the +exact authorities for the story? I replied that they might reprint in +pamphlet form with all my heart, but that I could not give my +authorities, since I had none, the tale being pure invention. The +priest wrote again, suggesting--to my amazement--that I must be +mistaken, that the main "facts" of "The Bowmen" must be true, that my +share in the matter must surely have been confined to the elaboration +and decoration of a veridical history. It seemed that my light fiction +had been accepted by the congregation of this particular church as the +solidest of facts; and it was then that it began to dawn on me that if +I had failed in the art of letters, I had succeeded, unwittingly, in +the art of deceit. This happened, I should think, some time in April, +and the snowball of rumour that was then set rolling has been rolling +ever since, growing bigger and bigger, till it is now swollen to a +monstrous size. + +It was at about this period that variants of my tale began to be told +as authentic histories. At first, these tales betrayed their relation +to their original. In several of them the vegetarian restaurant +appeared, and St. George was the chief character. In one case an +officer--name and address missing--said that there was a portrait of +St. George in a certain London restaurant, and that a figure, just +like the portrait, appeared to him on the battlefield, and was invoked +by him, with the happiest results. Another variant--this, I think, +never got into print--told how dead Prussians had been found on the +battlefield with arrow wounds in their bodies. This notion amused me, +as I had imagined a scene, when I was thinking out the story, in which +a German general was to appear before the Kaiser to explain his +failure to annihilate the English. + +"All-Highest," the general was to say, "it is true, it is impossible +to deny it. The men were killed by arrows; the shafts were found in +their bodies by the burying parties." + +I rejected the idea as over-precipitous even for a mere fantasy. I was +therefore entertained when I found that what I had refused as too +fantastical for fantasy was accepted in certain occult circles as hard +fact. + +Other versions of the story appeared in which a cloud interposed +between the attacking Germans and the defending British. In some +examples the cloud served to conceal our men from the advancing enemy; +in others, it disclosed shining shapes which frightened the horses of +the pursuing German cavalry. St. George, it will he noted, has +disappeared--he persisted some time longer in certain Roman Catholic +variants--and there are no more bowmen, no more arrows. But so far +angels are not mentioned; yet they are ready to appear, and I think +that I have detected the machine which brought them into the story. + +In "The Bowmen" my imagined soldier saw "a long line of shapes, with a +shining about them." And Mr. A.P. Sinnett, writing in the May issue of +_The Occult Review_, reporting what he had heard, states that "those +who could see said they saw 'a row of shining beings' between the two +armies." Now I conjecture that the word "shining" is the link between +my tale and the derivative from it. In the popular view shining and +benevolent supernatural beings are angels, and so, I believe, the +Bowmen of my story have become "the Angels of Mons." In this shape +they have been received with respect and credence everywhere, or +almost everywhere. + +And here, I conjecture, we have the key to the large popularity of the +delusion--as I think it. We have long ceased in England to take much +interest in saints, and in the recent revival of the cultus of St. +George, the saint is little more than a patriotic figurehead. And the +appeal to the saints to succour us is certainly not a common English +practice; it is held Popish by most of our countrymen. But angels, +with certain reservations, have retained their popularity, and so, +when it was settled that the English army in its dire peril was +delivered by angelic aid, the way was clear for general belief, and +for the enthusiasms of the religion of the man in the street. And so +soon as the legend got the title "The Angels of Mons" it became +impossible to avoid it. It permeated the Press: it would not be +neglected; it appeared in the most unlikely quarters--in _Truth_ and +_Town Topics_, _The New Church Weekly_ (Swedenborgian) and _John +Bull_. The editor of _The Church Times_ has exercised a wise reserve: +he awaits that evidence which so far is lacking; but in one issue of +the paper I noted that the story furnished a text for a sermon, the +subject of a letter, and the matter for an article. People send me +cuttings from provincial papers containing hot controversy as to the +exact nature of the appearances; the "Office Window" of _The Daily +Chronicle_ suggests scientific explanations of the hallucination; the +_Pall Mall_ in a note about St. James says he is of the brotherhood of +the Bowmen of Mons--this reversion to the bowmen from the angels being +possibly due to the strong statements that I have made on the matter. +The pulpits both of the Church and of Non-conformity have been busy: +Bishop Welldon, Dean Hensley Henson (a disbeliever), Bishop Taylor +Smith (the Chaplain-General), and many other clergy have occupied +themselves with the matter. Dr. Horton preached about the "angels" at +Manchester; Sir Joseph Compton Rickett (President of the National +Federation of Free Church Councils) stated that the soldiers at the +front had seen visions and dreamed dreams, and had given testimony of +powers and principalities fighting for them or against them. Letters +come from all the ends of the earth to the Editor of _The Evening +News_ with theories, beliefs, explanations, suggestions. It is all +somewhat wonderful; one can say that the whole affair is a +psychological phenomenon of considerable interest, fairly comparable +with the great Russian delusion of last August and September. + + + * * * * * + + +Now it is possible that some persons, judging by the tone of these +remarks of mine, may gather the impression that I am a profound +disbeliever in the possibility of any intervention of the +super-physical order in the affairs of the physical order. They will +be mistaken if they make this inference; they will be mistaken if they +suppose that I think miracles in Judæa credible but miracles in France +or Flanders incredible. I hold no such absurdities. But I confess, +very frankly, that I credit none of the "Angels of Mons" legends, +partly because I see, or think I see, their derivation from my own +idle fiction, but chiefly because I have, so far, not received one jot +or tittle of evidence that should dispose me to belief. It is idle, +indeed, and foolish enough for a man to say: "I am sure that story is +a lie, because the supernatural element enters into it;" here, indeed, +we have the maggot writhing in the midst of corrupted offal denying +the existence of the sun. But if this fellow be a fool--as he is-- +equally foolish is he who says, "If the tale has anything of the +supernatural it is true, and the less evidence the better;" and I am +afraid this tends to be the attitude of many who call themselves +occultists. I hope that I shall never get to that frame of mind. So I +say, not that super-normal interventions are impossible, not that they +have not happened during this war--I know nothing as to that point, +one way or the other--but that there is not one atom of evidence (so +far) to support the current stories of the angels of Mons. For, be it +remarked, these stories are specific stories. They rest on the second, +third, fourth, fifth hand stories told by "a soldier," by "an +officer," by "a Catholic correspondent," by "a nurse," by any number +of anonymous people. Indeed, names have been mentioned. A lady's name +has been drawn, most unwarrantably as it appears to me, into the +discussion, and I have no doubt that this lady has been subject to a +good deal of pestering and annoyance. She has written to the Editor of +_The Evening News_ denying all knowledge of the supposed miracle. The +Psychical Research Society's expert confesses that no real evidence +has been proffered to her Society on the matter. And then, to my +amazement, she accepts as fact the proposition that some men on the +battlefield have been "hallucinated," and proceeds to give the theory +of sensory hallucination. She forgets that, by her own showing, there +is no reason to suppose that anybody has been hallucinated at all. +Someone (unknown) has met a nurse (unnamed) who has talked to a +soldier (anonymous) who has seen angels. But _that_ is not evidence; +and not even Sam Weller at his gayest would have dared to offer it as +such in the Court of Common Pleas. So far, then, nothing remotely +approaching proof has been offered as to any supernatural intervention +during the Retreat from Mons. Proof may come; if so, it will be +interesting and more than interesting. + + + +But, taking the affair as it stands at present, how is it that a +nation plunged in materialism of the grossest kind has accepted idle +rumours and gossip of the supernatural as certain truth? The answer is +contained in the question: it is precisely because our whole +atmosphere is materialist that we are ready to credit anything--save +the truth. Separate a man from good drink, he will swallow methylated +spirit with joy. Man is created to be inebriated; to be "nobly wild, +not mad." Suffer the Cocoa Prophets and their company to seduce him in +body and spirit, and he will get himself stuff that will make him +ignobly wild and mad indeed. It took hard, practical men of affairs, +business men, advanced thinkers, Freethinkers, to believe in Madame +Blavatsky and Mahatmas and the famous message from the Golden Shore: +"Judge's plan is right; follow him and _stick_." + +And the main responsibility for this dismal state of affairs +undoubtedly lies on the shoulders of the majority of the clergy of the +Church of England. Christianity, as Mr. W.L. Courtney has so admirably +pointed out, is a great Mystery Religion; it is _the_ Mystery +Religion. Its priests are called to an awful and tremendous hierurgy; +its pontiffs are to be the pathfinders, the bridge-makers between the +world of sense and the world of spirit. And, in fact, they pass their +time in preaching, not the eternal mysteries, but a twopenny morality, +in changing the Wine of Angels and the Bread of Heaven into gingerbeer +and mixed biscuits: a sorry transubstantiation, a sad alchemy, as it +seems to me. + + + + + +The Bowmen + +It was during the Retreat of the Eighty Thousand, and the authority of +the Censorship is sufficient excuse for not being more explicit. But +it was on the most awful day of that awful time, on the day when ruin +and disaster came so near that their shadow fell over London far away; +and, without any certain news, the hearts of men failed within them +and grew faint; as if the agony of the army in the battlefield had +entered into their souls. + +On this dreadful day, then, when three hundred thousand men in arms +with all their artillery swelled like a flood against the little +English company, there was one point above all other points in our +battle line that was for a time in awful danger, not merely of defeat, +but of utter annihilation. With the permission of the Censorship and +of the military expert, this corner may, perhaps, be described as a +salient, and if this angle were crushed and broken, then the English +force as a whole would be shattered, the Allied left would be turned, +and Sedan would inevitably follow. + +All the morning the German guns had thundered and shrieked against +this corner, and against the thousand or so of men who held it. The +men joked at the shells, and found funny names for them, and had bets +about them, and greeted them with scraps of music-hall songs. But the +shells came on and burst, and tore good Englishmen limb from limb, and +tore brother from brother, and as the heat of the day increased so did +the fury of that terrific cannonade. There was no help, it seemed. The +English artillery was good, but there was not nearly enough of it; it +was being steadily battered into scrap iron. + +There comes a moment in a storm at sea when people say to one another, +"It is at its worst; it can blow no harder," and then there is a blast +ten times more fierce than any before it. So it was in these British +trenches. + +There were no stouter hearts in the whole world than the hearts of +these men; but even they were appalled as this seven-times-heated +hell of the German cannonade fell upon them and overwhelmed them and +destroyed them. And at this very moment they saw from their trenches +that a tremendous host was moving against their lines. Five hundred of +the thousand remained, and as far as they could see the German +infantry was pressing on against them, column upon column, a grey +world of men, ten thousand of them, as it appeared afterwards. + +There was no hope at all. They shook hands, some of them. One man +improvised a new version of the battlesong, "Good-bye, good-bye to +Tipperary," ending with "And we shan't get there". And they all went +on firing steadily. The officers pointed out that such an opportunity +for high-class, fancy shooting might never occur again; the Germans +dropped line after line; the Tipperary humorist asked, "What price +Sidney Street?" And the few machine guns did their best. But everybody +knew it was of no use. The dead grey bodies lay in companies and +battalions, as others came on and on and on, and they swarmed and +stirred and advanced from beyond and beyond. + +"World without end. Amen," said one of the British soldiers with some +irrelevance as he took aim and fired. And then he remembered--he says +he cannot think why or wherefore--a queer vegetarian restaurant in +London where he had once or twice eaten eccentric dishes of cutlets +made of lentils and nuts that pretended to be steak. On all the plates +in this restaurant there was printed a figure of St. George in blue, +with the motto, _Adsit Anglis Sanctus Geogius_--May St. George be a +present help to the English. This soldier happened to know Latin and +other useless things, and now, as he fired at his man in the grey +advancing mass--300 yards away--he uttered the pious vegetarian +motto. He went on firing to the end, and at last Bill on his right had +to clout him cheerfully over the head to make him stop, pointing out +as he did so that the King's ammunition cost money and was not lightly +to be wasted in drilling funny patterns into dead Germans. + +For as the Latin scholar uttered his invocation he felt something +between a shudder and an electric shock pass through his body. The +roar of the battle died down in his ears to a gentle murmur; instead +of it, he says, he heard a great voice and a shout louder than a +thunder-peal crying, "Array, array, array!" + +His heart grew hot as a burning coal, it grew cold as ice within him, +as it seemed to him that a tumult of voices answered to his summons. +He heard, or seemed to hear, thousands shouting: "St. George! St. +George!" + +"Ha! messire; ha! sweet Saint, grant us good deliverance!" + +"St. George for merry England!" + +"Harow! Harow! Monseigneur St. George, succour us." + +"Ha! St. George! Ha! St. George! a long bow and a strong bow." + +"Heaven's Knight, aid us!" + +And as the soldier heard these voices he saw before him, beyond the +trench, a long line of shapes, with a shining about them. They were +like men who drew the bow, and with another shout their cloud of +arrows flew singing and tingling through the air towards the German +hosts. + +The other men in the trench were firing all the while. They had no +hope; but they aimed just as if they had been shooting at Bisley. +Suddenly one of them lifted up his voice in the plainest English, +"Gawd help us!" he bellowed to the man next to him, "but we're +blooming marvels! Look at those grey... gentlemen, look at them! D'ye +see them? They're not going down in dozens, nor in 'undreds; it's +thousands, it is. Look! look! there's a regiment gone while I'm +talking to ye." + +"Shut it!" the other soldier bellowed, taking aim, "what are ye +gassing about!" + +But he gulped with astonishment even as he spoke, for, indeed, the +grey men were falling by the thousands. The English could hear the +guttural scream of the German officers, the crackle of their revolvers +as they shot the reluctant; and still line after line crashed to the +earth. + +All the while the Latin-bred soldier heard the cry: "Harow! Harow! +Monseigneur, dear saint, quick to our aid! St. George help us!" + +"High Chevalier, defend us!" + +The singing arrows fled so swift and thick that they darkened the air; +the heathen horde melted from before them. + +"More machine guns!" Bill yelled to Tom. + +"Don't hear them," Tom yelled back. "But, thank God, anyway; they've +got it in the neck." + +In fact, there were ten thousand dead German soldiers left before that +salient of the English army, and consequently there was no Sedan. In +Germany, a country ruled by scientific principles, the Great General +Staff decided that the contemptible English must have employed shells +containing an unknown gas of a poisonous nature, as no wounds were +discernible on the bodies of the dead German soldiers. But the man who +knew what nuts tasted like when they called themselves steak knew also +that St. George had brought his Agincourt Bowmen to help the English. + + + + + +The Soldiers' Rest + +The soldier with the ugly wound in the head opened his eyes at last, +and looked about him with an air of pleasant satisfaction. + +He still felt drowsy and dazed with some fierce experience through +which he had passed, but so far he could not recollect much about it. +But--an agreeable glow began to steal about his heart--such a glow as +comes to people who have been in a tight place and have come through +it better than they had expected. In its mildest form this set of +emotions may be observed in passengers who have crossed the Channel on +a windy day without being sick. They triumph a little internally, and +are suffused with vague, kindly feelings. + +The wounded soldier was somewhat of this disposition as he opened his +eyes, pulled himself together, and looked about him. He felt a sense +of delicious ease and repose in bones that had been racked and weary, +and deep in the heart that had so lately been tormented there was an +assurance of comfort--of the battle won. The thundering, roaring waves +were passed; he had entered into the haven of calm waters. After +fatigues and terrors that as yet he could not recollect he seemed now +to be resting in the easiest of all easy chairs in a dim, low room. + +In the hearth there was a glint of fire and a blue, sweet-scented puff +of wood smoke; a great black oak beam roughly hewn crossed the +ceiling. Through the leaded panes of the windows he saw a rich glow of +sunlight, green lawns, and against the deepest and most radiant of all +blue skies the wonderful far-lifted towers of a vast, Gothic +cathedral--mystic, rich with imagery. + +"Good Lord!" he murmured to himself. "I didn't know they had such +places in France. It's just like Wells. And it might be the other day +when I was going past the Swan, just as it might be past that window, +and asked the ostler what time it was, and he says, 'What time? Why, +summer-time'; and there outside it looks like summer that would last +for ever. If this was an inn they ought to call it _The Soldiers' +Rest_." + +He dozed off again, and when he opened his eyes once more a kindly +looking man in some sort of black robe was standing by him. + +"It's all right now, isn't it?" he said, speaking in good English. + +"Yes, thank you, sir, as right as can be. I hope to be back again +soon." + +"Well well; but how did you come here? Where did you get that?" He +pointed to the wound on the soldier's forehead. + +The soldier put his hand: up to his brow and looked dazed and puzzled. + +"Well, sir," he said at last, "it was like this, to begin at the +beginning. You know how we came over in August, and there we were in +the thick of it, as you might say, in a day or two. An awful time it +was, and I don't know how I got through it alive. My best friend was +killed dead beside me as we lay in the trenches. By Cambrai, I think +it was. + +"Then things got a little quieter for a bit, and I was quartered in a +village for the best part of a week. She was a very nice lady where I +was, and she treated me proper with the best of everything. Her +husband he was fighting; but she had the nicest little boy I ever +knew, a little fellow of five, or six it might be, and we got on +splendid. The amount of their lingo that kid taught me--'We, we' and +'Bong swot' and 'Commong voo potty we' and all--and I taught him +English. You should have heard that nipper say ''Arf a mo', old un!' +It was a treat. + +"Then one day we got surprised. There was about a dozen of us in the +village, and two or three hundred Germans came down on us early one +morning. They got us; no help for 'it. Before we could shoot. + +"Well there we were. They tied our hands behind our backs, and smacked +our faces and kicked us a bit, and we were lined up opposite the house +where I'd been staying. + +"And then that poor little chap broke away from his mother, and he run +out and saw one of the Boshes, as we call them, fetch me one over the +jaw with his clenched fist. Oh dear! oh dear! he might have done it a +dozen times if only that little child hadn't seen him. + +"He had a poor bit of a toy I'd bought him at the village shop; a toy +gun it was. And out he came running, as I say, Crying out something in +French like 'Bad man! bad man! don't hurt my Anglish or I shoot you'; +and he pointed that gun at the German soldier. The German, he took his +bayonet, and he drove it right through the poor little chap's throat." + +The soldier's face worked and twitched and twisted itself into a sort +of grin, and he sat grinding his teeth and staring at the man in the +black robe. He was silent for a little. And then he found his voice, +and the oaths rolled terrible, thundering from him, as he cursed that +murderous wretch, and bade him go down and burn for ever in hell. And +the tears were raining down his face, and they choked him at last. + +"I beg your pardon, sir, I'm sure," he said, "especially you being a +minister of some kind, I suppose; but I can't help it, he was such a +dear little man." + +The man in black murmured something to himself: "_Pretiosa in +conspectu Domini mors innocentium ejus_"--Dear in the sight of the +Lord is the death of His innocents. Then he put a hand very gently on +the soldier's shoulder. + +"Never mind," said he; "I've seen some service in my time, myself. But +what about that wound?" + +"Oh, that; that's nothing. But I'll tell you how I got it. It was just +like this. The Germans had us fair, as I tell you, and they shut us up +in a barn in the village; just flung us on the ground and left us to +starve seemingly. They barred up the big door of the barn, and put a +sentry there, and thought we were all right. + +"There were sort of slits like very narrow windows in one of the +walls, and on the second day it was, I was looking out of these slits +down the street, and I could see those German devils were up to +mischief. They were planting their machine-guns everywhere handy where +an ordinary man coming up the street would never see them, but I see +them, and I see the infantry lining up behind the garden walls. Then I +had a sort of a notion of what was coming; and presently, sure +enough, I could hear some of our chaps singing 'Hullo, hullo, hullo!' +in the distance; and I says to myself, 'Not this time.' + +"So I looked about me, and I found a hole under the wall; a kind of a +drain I should think it was, and I found I could just squeeze through. +And I got out and crept, round, and away I goes running down the +street, yelling for all I was worth, just as our chaps were getting +round the corner at the bottom. 'Bang, bang!' went the guns, behind me +and in front of me, and on each side of me, and then--bash! something +hit me on the head and over I went; and I don't remember anything more +till I woke up here just now." + +The soldier lay back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment. +When he opened them he saw that there were other people in the room +besides the minister in the black robes. One was a man in a big black +cloak. He had a grim old face and a great beaky nose. He shook the +soldier by the hand. + +"By God! sir," he said, "you're a credit to the British Army; you're a +damned fine soldier and a good man, and, by God! I'm proud to shake +hands with you." + +And then someone came out of the shadow, someone in queer clothes such +as the soldier had seen worn by the heralds when he had been on duty +at the opening of Parliament by the King. + +"Now, by _Corpus Domini_," this man said, "of all knights ye be +noblest and gentlest, and ye be of fairest report, and now ye be a +brother of the noblest brotherhood that ever was since this world's +beginning, since ye have yielded dear life for your friends' sake." + +The soldier did not understand what the man was saying to him. There +were others, too, in strange dresses, who came and spoke to him. Some +spoke in what sounded like French. He could not make it out; but he +knew that they all spoke kindly and praised him. + +"What does it all mean?" he said to the minister. "What are they +talking about? They don't think I'd let down my pals?" + +"Drink this," said the minister, and he handed the soldier a great +silver cup, brimming with wine. + +The soldier took a deep draught, and in that moment all his sorrows +passed from him. + +"What is it?" he asked? + +"_Vin nouveau du Royaume_," said the minister. "New Wine of the +Kingdom, you call it." And then he bent down and murmured in the +soldier's ear. + +"What," said the wounded man, "the place they used to tell us about in +Sunday school? With such drink and such joy--" + +His voice was hushed. For as he looked at the minister the fashion of +his vesture was changed. The black robe seemed to melt away from him. +He was all in armour, if armour be made of starlight, of the rose of +dawn, and of sunset fires; and he lifted up a great sword of flame. + + Full in the midst, his Cross of Red Triumphant Michael brandished, + And trampled the Apostate's pride. + + + + + +The Monstrance + + Then it fell out in the sacring of the Mass that right as the + priest heaved up the Host there came a beam redder than any rose and + smote upon it, and then it was changed bodily into the shape and + fashion of a Child having his arms stretched forth, as he had been + nailed upon the Tree.--Old Romance. + +So far things were going very well indeed. The night was thick and +black and cloudy, and the German force had come three-quarters of their +way or more without an alarm. There was no challenge from the English +lines; and indeed the English were being kept busy by a high shell-fire +on their front. This had been the German plan; and it was coming off +admirably. Nobody thought that there was any danger on the left; and so +the Prussians, writhing on their stomachs over the ploughed field, were +drawing nearer and nearer to the wood. Once there they could establish +themselves comfortably and securely during what remained of the night; +and at dawn the English left would be hopelessly enfiladed--and there +would be another of those movements which people who really understand +military matters call "readjustments of our line." + +The noise made by the men creeping and crawling over the fields was +drowned by the cannonade, from the English side as well as the German. +On the English centre and right things were indeed very brisk; the big +guns were thundering and shrieking and roaring, the machine-guns were +keeping up the very devil's racket; the flares and illuminating shells +were as good as the Crystal Palace in the old days, as the soldiers +said to one another. All this had been thought of and thought out on +the other side. The German force was beautifully organised. The men who +crept nearer and nearer to the wood carried quite a number of machine +guns in bits on their backs; others of them had small bags full of +sand; yet others big bags that were empty. When the wood was reached +the sand from the small bags was to be emptied into the big bags; the +machine-gun parts were to be put together, the guns mounted behind the +sandbag redoubt, and then, as Major Von und Zu pleasantly observed, +"the English pigs shall to gehenna-fire quickly come." + +The major was so well pleased with the way things had gone that he +permitted himself a very low and guttural chuckle; in another ten +minutes success would be assured. He half turned his head round to +whisper a caution about some detail of the sandbag business to the big +sergeant-major, Karl Heinz, who was crawling just behind him. At that +instant Karl Heinz leapt into the air with a scream that rent through +the night and through all the roaring of the artillery. He cried in a +terrible voice, "The Glory of the Lord!" and plunged and pitched +forward, stone dead. They said that his face as he stood up there and +cried aloud was as if it had been seen through a sheet of flame. + +"They" were one or two out of the few who got back to the German lines. +Most of the Prussians stayed in the ploughed field. Karl Heinz's scream +had frozen the blood of the English soldiers, but it had also ruined +the major's plans. He and his men, caught all unready, clumsy with the +burdens that they carried, were shot to pieces; hardly a score of them +returned. The rest of the force were attended to by an English burying +party. According to custom the dead men were searched before they were +buried, and some singular relies of the campaign were found upon them, +but nothing so singular as Karl Heinz's diary. + +He had been keeping it for some time. It began with entries about +bread and sausage and the ordinary incidents of the trenches; here +and there Karl wrote about an old grandfather, and a big china pipe, +and pinewoods and roast goose. Then the diarist seemed to get fidgety +about his health. Thus: + + April 17.--Annoyed for some days by murmuring sounds in my head. I + trust I shall not become deaf, like my departed uncle Christopher. + + April 20.--The noise in my head grows worse; it is a humming sound. + It distracts me; twice I have failed to hear the captain and have + been reprimanded. + + April 22.--So bad is my head that I go to see the doctor. He speaks + of tinnitus, and gives me an inhaling apparatus that shall reach, he + says, the middle ear. + + April 25.--The apparatus is of no use. The sound is now become like + the booming of a great church bell. It reminds me of the bell at St. + Lambart on that terrible day of last August. + + April 26.--I could swear that it is the bell of St. Lambart that I + hear all the time. They rang it as the procession came out of the + church. + +The man's writing, at first firm enough, begins to straggle unevenly +over the page at this point. The entries show that he became convinced +that he heard the bell of St. Lambart's Church ringing, though (as he +knew better than most men) there had been no bell and no church at St. +Lambart's since the summer of 1914. There was no village either--the +whole place was a rubbish-heap. + +Then the unfortunate Karl Heinz was beset with other troubles. + + May 2.--I fear I am becoming ill. To-day Joseph Kleist, who is next + to me in the trench, asked me why I jerked my head to the right so + constantly. I told him to hold his tongue; but this shows that I am + noticed. I keep fancying that there is something white just beyond + the range of my sight on the right hand. + + May 3.--This whiteness is now quite clear, and in front of me. All + this day it has slowly passed before me. I asked Joseph Kleist if he + saw a piece of newspaper just beyond the trench. He stared at me + solemnly--he is a stupid fool--and said, "There is no paper." + + May 4.--It looks like a white robe. There was a strong smell of + incense to-day in the trench. No one seemed to notice it. There is + decidedly a white robe, and I think I can see feet, passing very + slowly before me at this moment while I write. + +There is no space here for continuous extracts from Karl Heinz's diary. +But to condense with severity, it would seem that he slowly gathered +about himself a complete set of sensory hallucinations. First the +auditory hallucination of the sound of a bell, which the doctor called +tinnitus. Then a patch of white growing into a white robe, then the +smell of incense. At last he lived in two worlds. He saw his trench, +and the level before it, and the English lines; he talked with his +comrades and obeyed orders, though with a certain difficulty; but he +also heard the deep boom of St. Lambart's bell, and saw continually +advancing towards him a white procession of little children, led by a +boy who was swinging a censer. There is one extraordinary entry: "But +in August those children carried no lilies; now they have lilies in +their hands. Why should they have lilies?" + +It is interesting to note the transition over the border line. After +May 2 there is no reference in the diary to bodily illness, with two +notable exceptions. Up to and including that date the sergeant knows +that he is suffering from illusions; after that he accepts his +hallucinations as actualities. The man who cannot see what he sees and +hear what he hears is a fool. So he writes: "I ask who is singing 'Ave +Maria Stella.' That blockhead Friedrich Schumacher raises his crest and +answers insolently that no one sings, since singing is strictly +forbidden for the present." + +A few days before the disastrous night expedition the last figure in +the procession appeared to those sick eyes. + + The old priest now comes in his golden robe, the two boys holding + each side of it. He is looking just as he did when he died, save + that when he walked in St. Lambart there was no shining round his + head. But this is illusion and contrary to reason, since no one has + a shining about his head. I must take some medicine. + +Note here that Karl Heinz absolutely accepts the appearance of the +martyred priest of St. Lambart as actual, while he thinks that the halo +must be an illusion; and so he reverts again to his physical condition. + +The priest held up both his hands, the diary states, "as if there were +something between them. But there is a sort of cloud or dimness over +this object, whatever it may be. My poor Aunt Kathie suffered much +from her eyes in her old age." + + * * * * * + +One can guess what the priest of St. Lambart carried in his hands when +he and the little children went out into the hot sunlight to implore +mercy, while the great resounding bell of St. Lambart boomed over the +plain. Karl Heinz knew what happened then; they said that it was he +who killed the old priest and helped to crucify the little child +against the church door. The baby was only three years old. He died +calling piteously for "mummy" and "daddy." + + * * * * * + +And those who will may guess what Karl Heinz saw when the mist cleared +from before the monstrance in the priest's hands. Then he shrieked and +died. + + + + + +The Dazzling Light + + The new head-covering is made of heavy steel, which has been + specialty treated to increase its resisting power. The walls + protecting the skull are particularly thick, and the weight of the + helmet renders its use in open warfare out of the question. The rim + is large, like that of the headpiece of Mambrino, and the soldier + can at will either bring the helmet forward and protect his eyes or + wear it so as to protect the base of the skull . . . Military + experts admit that continuance of the present trench warfare may + lead to those engaged in it, especially bombing parties and barbed + wire cutters, being more heavily armoured than the knights, who + fought at Bouvines and at Agincourt.--_The Times_, July 22, 1915 + +The war is already a fruitful mother of legends. Some people think +that there are too many war legends, and a Croydon gentleman--or lady, +I am not sure which--wrote to me quite recently telling me that a +certain particular legend, which I will not specify, had become the +"chief horror of the war." There may be something to be said for this +point of view, but it strikes me as interesting that the old +myth-making faculty has survived into these days, a relic of noble, +far-off Homeric battles. And after all, what do we know? It does not +do to be too sure that this, that, or the other hasn't happened and +couldn't have happened. + +What follows, at any rate, has no claim to be considered either as +legend or as myth. It is merely one of the odd circumstances of these +times, and I have no doubt it can easily be "explained away." In fact, +the rationalistic explanation of the whole thing is patent and on the +surface. There is only one little difficulty, and that, I fancy, is by +no means insuperable. In any case this one knot or tangle may be put +down as a queer coincidence and nothing more. + +Here, then, is the curiosity or oddity in question. A young fellow, +whom we will call for avoidance of all identification Delamere Smith-- +he is now Lieutenant Delamere Smith--was spending his holidays on the +coast of west South Wales at the beginning of the war. He was +something or other not very important in the City, and in his leisure +hours he smattered lightly and agreeably a little literature, a little +art, a little antiquarianism. He liked the Italian primitives, he knew +the difference between first, second, and third pointed, he had looked +through Boutell's "Engraved Brasses." He had been heard indeed to +speak with enthusiasm of the brasses of Sir Robert de Septvans and Sir +Roger de Trumpington. + +One morning--he thinks it must have been the morning of August 16, +1914--the sun shone so brightly into his room that he woke early, and +the fancy took him that it would be fine to sit on the cliffs in the +pure sunlight. So he dressed and went out, and climbed up Giltar +Point, and sat there enjoying the sweet air and the radiance of the +sea, and the sight of the fringe of creaming foam about the grey +foundations of St. Margaret's Island. Then he looked beyond and gazed +at the new white monastery on Caldy, and wondered who the architect +was, and how he had contrived to make the group of buildings look +exactly like the background of a mediæval picture. + +After about an hour of this and a couple of pipes, Smith confesses +that he began to feel extremely drowsy. He was just wondering whether +it would be pleasant to stretch himself out on the wild thyme that +scented the high place and go to sleep till breakfast, when the +mounting sun caught one of the monastery windows, and Smith stared +sleepily at the darting flashing light till it dazzled him. Then he +felt "queer." There was an odd sensation as if the top of his head +were dilating and contracting, and then he says he had a sort of +shock, something between a mild current of electricity and the +sensation of putting one's hand into the ripple of a swift brook. + +Now, what happened next Smith cannot describe at all clearly. He knew +he was on Giltar, looking across the waves to Caldy; he heard all the +while the hollow, booming tide in the caverns of the rocks far below +him, And yet he saw, as if in a glass, a very different country--a +level fenland cut by slow streams, by long avenues of trimmed trees. + +"It looked," he says, "as if it ought to have been a lonely country, +but it was swarming with men; they were thick as ants in an anthill. +And they were all dressed in armour; that was the strange thing about +it. + +"I thought I was standing by what looked as if it had been a +farmhouse; but it was all battered to bits, just a heap of ruins and +rubbish. All that was left was one tall round chimney, shaped very +much like the fifteenth-century chimneys in Pembrokeshire. And +thousands and tens of thousands went marching by. + +"They were all in armour, and in all sorts of armour. Some of them had +overlapping tongues of bright metal fastened on their clothes, others +were in chain mail from head to foot, others were in heavy plate +armour. + +"They wore helmets of all shapes and sorts and sizes. One regiment had +steel caps with wide trims, something like the old barbers' basins. +Another lot had knights' tilting helmets on, closed up so that you +couldn't see their faces. Most of them wore metal gauntlets, either of +steel rings or plates, and they had steel over their boots. A great +many had things like battle-maces swinging by their sides, and all +these fellows carried a sort of string of big metal balls round their +waist. Then a dozen regiments went by, every man with a steel shield +slung over his shoulder. The last to go by were cross-bowmen." + +In fact, it appeared to Delamere Smith that he watched the passing of +a host of men in mediæval armour before him, and yet he knew--by the +position of the sun and of a rosy cloud that was passing over the +Worm's Head--that this vision, or whatever it was, only lasted a +second or two. Then that slight sense of shock returned, and Smith +returned to the contemplation of the physical phenomena of the +Pembrokeshire coast--blue waves, grey St. Margaret's, and Caldy Abbey +white in the sunlight. + +It will be said, no doubt, and very likely with truth, that Smith fell +asleep on Giltar, and mingled in a dream the thought of the great war +just begun with his smatterings of mediæval battle and arms and +armour. The explanation seems tolerable enough. + +But there is the one little difficulty. It has been said that Smith is +now Lieutenant Smith. He got his commission last autumn, and went out +in May. He happens to speak French rather well, and so he has become +what is called, I believe, an officer of liaison, or some such term. +Anyhow, he is often behind the French lines. + +He was home on short leave last week, and said: + +"Ten days ago I was ordered to ----. I got there early in the morning, +and had to wait a bit before I could see the General. I looked about +me, and there on the left of us was a farm shelled into a heap of +ruins, with one round chimney standing, shaped like the 'Flemish' +chimneys in Pembrokeshire. And then the men in armour marched by, just +as I had seen them--French regiments. The things like battle-maces +were bomb-throwers, and the metal balls round the men's waists were +the bombs. They told me that the cross-bows were used for +bomb-shooting. + +"The march I saw was part of a big movement; you will hear more of it +before long." + + + + + +The Bowmen And Other Noble Ghosts + +By "The Londoner" + +There was a journalist--and the _Evening News_ reader well knows the +initials of his name--who lately sat down to write a story. + + * * + +Of course his story had to be about the war; there are no other +stories nowadays. And so he wrote of English soldiers who, in the dusk +on a field of France, faced the sullen mass of the oncoming Huns. They +were few against fearful odds, but, as they sent the breech-bolt home +and aimed and fired, they became aware that others fought beside them. +Down the air came cries to St. George and twanging of the bow-string; +the old bowmen of England had risen at England's need from their +graves in that French earth and were fighting for England. + + * * + +He said that he made up that story by himself, that he sat down and +wrote it out of his head. But others knew better. It must really have +happened. There was, I remember, a clergyman of good credit who told +him that he was clean mistaken; the archers had really and truly risen +up to fight for England: the tale was all up and down the front. + +For my part I had thought that he wrote out of his head; I had seen +him at the detestable job of doing it. I myself have hated this +business of writing ever since I found out that it was not so easy as +it looks, and I can always spare a little sympathy for a man who is +driving a pen to the task of putting words in their right places. Yet +the clergyman persuaded me at last. Who am I that I should doubt the +faith of a clerk in holy orders? It must have happened. Those archers +fought for us, and the grey-goose feather has flown once again in +English battle. + + * * + +Since that day I look eagerly for the ghosts who must be taking their +share in this world-war. Never since the world began was such a war as +this: surely Marlborough and the Duke, Talbot and Harry of Monmouth, +and many another shadowy captain must be riding among our horsemen. +The old gods of war are wakened by this loud clamour of the guns. + + * * + +All the lands are astir. It is not enough that Asia should be humming +like an angry hive and the far islands in arms, Australia sending her +young men and Canada making herself a camp. When we talk over the war +news, we call up ancient names: we debate how Rome stands and what is +the matter with Greece. + + * * + +As for Greece, I have ceased to talk of her. If I wanted to say +anything about Greece I should get down the Poetry Book and quote Lord +Byron's fine old ranting verse. "The mountains look on Marathon--and +Marathon looks on the sea." But "standing on the Persians' grave" +Greece seems in the same humour that made Lord Byron give her up as a +hopelessly flabby country. + + * * + +"'Tis Greece, but living Greece no more" is as true as ever it was. +That last telegram of the Kaiser must have done its soothing work. You +remember how it ran: the Kaiser was too busy to make up new phrases. +He telegraphed to his sister the familiar Potsdam sentence: "Woe to +those who dare to draw the sword against me." I am sure that I have +heard that before. And he added--delightful and significant +postscript!--"My compliments to Tino." + + * * + +And Tino--King Constantine of the Hellenes--understood. He is in bed +now with a very bad cold, and like to stay in bed until the weather be +more settled. But before going to bed he was able to tell a journalist +that Greece was going quietly on with her proper business; it was her +mission to carry civilisation to the world. Truly that was the mission +of ancient Greece. What we get from Tino's modern Greece is not +civilisation but the little black currants for plum-cake. + + * * + +But Rome. Greece may be dead or in the currant trade. Rome is alive +and immortal. Do not talk to me about Signor Giolitti, who is quite +sure that the only things that matter in this new Italy, which is old +Rome, are her commercial relations with Germany. Rome of the legions, +our ancient mistress and conqueror, is alive to-day, and she cannot be +for an ignoble peace. Here in my newspaper is the speech of a poet +spoken in Rome to a shouting crowd: I will cut out the column and put +it in the Poetry Book. + + * * + +He calls to the living and to the dead: "I saw the fire of Vesta, O +Romans, lit yesterday in the great steel works of Liguria, The +fountain of Juturna, O Romans, I saw its water run to temper armour, +to chill the drills that hollow out the bore of guns." This is poetry +of the old Roman sort. I imagine that scene in Rome: the latest poet +of Rome calling upon the Romans in the name of Vesta's holy fire, in +the name of the springs at which the Great Twin Brethren washed their +horses. I still believe in the power and the ancient charm of noble +words. I do not think that Giolitti and the stockbrokers will keep old +Rome off the old roads where the legions went. + + + + + +Postscript + +While this volume was passing through the press, Mr. Ralph Shirley, +the Editor of "The Occult Review" called my attention to an article +that is appearing in the August issue of his magazine, and was kind +enough to let me see the advance proof sheets. + +The article is called "The Angelic Leaders" It is written by Miss +Phyllis Campbell. I have read it with great care. + +Miss Campbell says that she was in France when the war broke out. She +became a nurse, and while she was nursing the wounded she was informed +that an English soldier wanted a "holy picture." She went to the man +and found him to be a Lancashire Fusilier. He said that he was a +Wesleyan Methodist, and asked "for a picture or medal (he didn't care +which) of St. George... because he had seen him on a white horse, +leading the British at Vitry-le-François, when the Allies turned" + +This statement was corroborated by a wounded R.F.A. man who was +present. He saw a tall man with yellow hair, in golden armour, on a +white horse, holding his sword up, and his mouth open as if he was +saying, "Come on, boys! I'll put the kybosh on the devils" This figure +was bareheaded--as appeared later from the testimony of other +soldiers--and the R.F.A. man and the Fusilier knew that he was St. +George, because he was exactly like the figure of St. George on the +sovereigns. "Hadn't they seen him with his sword on every 'quid' +they'd ever had?" + +From further evidence it seemed that while the English had seen the +apparition of St. George coming out of a "yellow mist" or "cloud of +light," to the French had been vouchsafed visions of St. Michael the +Archangel and Joan of Arc. Miss Campbell says:-- + + "Everybody has seen them who has fought through from Mons to Ypres; + they all agree on them individually, and have no doubt at all as to + the final issue of their interference" + +Such are the main points of the article as it concerns the great +legend of "The Angels of Mons." I cannot say that the author has +shaken my incredulity--firstly, because the evidence is second-hand. +Miss Campbell is perhaps acquainted with "Pickwick" and I would remind +her of that famous (and golden) ruling of Stareleigh, J.: to the +effect that you mustn't tell us what the soldier said; it's not +evidence. Miss Campbell has offended against this rule, and she has +not only told us what the soldier said, but she has omitted to give us +the soldier's name and address. + +If Miss Campbell proffered herself as a witness at the Old Bailey and +said, "John Doe is undoubtedly guilty. A soldier I met told me that he +had seen the prisoner put his hand into an old gentleman's pocket and +take out a purse"--well, she would find that the stout spirit of Mr. +Justice Stareleigh still survives in our judges. + +The soldier must be produced. Before that is done we are not +technically aware that he exists at all. + +Then there are one or two points in the article itself which puzzle +me. The Fusilier and the R.F.A. man had seen "St, George leading the +British at Vitry-le-François, when the Allies turned." Thus the time +of the apparition and the place of the apparition were firmly fixed in +the two soldiers' minds. + +Yet the very next paragraph in the article begins:-- + + "'Where was this ?' I asked. But neither of them could tell" + +This is an odd circumstance. They knew, and yet they did not know; or, +rather, they had forgotten a piece of information that they had +themselves imparted a few seconds before. + +Another point. The soldiers knew that the figure on the horse was St. +George by his exact likeness to the figure of the saint on the English +sovereign. + +This, again, is odd. The apparition was of a bareheaded figure in +golden armour. The St. George of the coinage is naked, except for a +short cape flying from the shoulders, and a helmet. He is not +bareheaded, and has no armour--save the piece on his head. I do not +quite see how the soldiers were so certain as to the identity of the +apparition. + +Lastly, Miss Campbell declares that "everybody" who fought from Mons +to Ypres saw the apparitions. If that be so, it is again odd that +Nobody has come forward to testify at first hand to the most amazing +event of his life. Many men have been back on leave from the front, we +have many wounded in hospital, many soldiers have written letters +home. And they have all combined, this great host, to keep silence as +to the most wonderful of occurrences, the most inspiring assurance, +the surest omen of victory. + +It may be so, but-- + +Arthur Machen. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANGELS OF MONS*** + + +******* This file should be named 14044-8.txt or 14044-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/4/14044 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/14044-8.zip b/old/14044-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8bf996c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14044-8.zip diff --git a/old/14044.txt b/old/14044.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e42e67c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14044.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1553 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Angels of Mons, by Arthur Machen + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Angels of Mons + +Author: Arthur Machen + +Release Date: November 14, 2004 [eBook #14044] +[This file last updated: February 14, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANGELS OF MONS*** + + +E-text prepared by Tom Harris + + + +THE ANGELS OF MONS + +The Bowmen and Other Legends of the War + +by + +ARTHUR MACHEN + +1915 + + + + + + + +Introduction + +I have been asked to write an introduction to the story of "The +Bowmen", on its publication in book form together with three other +tales of similar fashion. And I hesitate. This affair of "The Bowmen" +has been such an odd one from first to last, so many queer +complications have entered into it, there have been so many and so +divers currents and cross-currents of rumour and speculation +concerning it, that I honestly do not know where to begin. I propose, +then, to solve the difficulty by apologising for beginning at all. + +For, usually and fitly, the presence of an introduction is held to +imply that there is something of consequence and importance to be +introduced. If, for example, a man has made an anthology of great +poetry, he may well write an introduction justifying his principle of +selection, pointing out here and there, as the spirit moves him, high +beauties and supreme excellencies, discoursing of the magnates and +lords and princes of literature, whom he is merely serving as groom of +the chamber. Introductions, that is, belong to the masterpieces and +classics of the world, to the great and ancient and accepted things; +and I am here introducing a short, small story of my own which +appeared in _The Evening News_ about ten months ago. + +I appreciate the absurdity, nay, the enormity of the position in all +its grossness. And my excuse for these pages must be this: that though +the story itself is nothing, it has yet had such odd and unforeseen +consequences and adventures that the tale of them may possess some +interest. And then, again, there are certain psychological morals to +be drawn from the whole matter of the tale and its sequel of rumours +and discussions that are not, I think, devoid of consequence; and so +to begin at the beginning. + + + +This was in last August, to be more precise, on the last Sunday of +last August. There were terrible things to be read on that hot Sunday +morning between meat and mass. It was in _The Weekly Dispatch_ that I +saw the awful account of the retreat from Mons. I no longer recollect +the details; but I have not forgotten the impression that was then on +my mind, I seemed to see a furnace of torment and death and agony and +terror seven times heated, and in the midst of the burning was the +British Army. In the midst of the flame, consumed by it and yet +aureoled in it, scattered like ashes and yet triumphant, martyred and +for ever glorious. So I saw our men with a shining about them, so I +took these thoughts with me to church, and, I am sorry to say, was +making up a story in my head while the deacon was singing the Gospel. + +This was not the tale of "The Bowmen". It was the first sketch, as it +were, of "The Soldiers' Rest". I only wish I had been able to write it +as I conceived it. The tale as it stands is, I think, a far better +piece of craft than "The Bowmen", but the tale that came to me as the +blue incense floated above the Gospel Book on the desk between the +tapers: that indeed was a noble story--like all the stories that never +get written. I conceived the dead men coming up through the flames and +in the flames, and being welcomed in the Eternal Tavern with songs and +flowing cups and everlasting mirth. But every man is the child of his +age, however much he may hate it; and our popular religion has long +determined that jollity is wicked. As far as I can make out modern +Protestantism believes that Heaven is something like Evensong in an +English cathedral, the service by Stainer and the Dean preaching. For +those opposed to dogma of any kind--even the mildest--I suppose it is +held that a Course of Ethical Lectures will be arranged. + +Well, I have long maintained that on the whole the average church, +considered as a house of preaching, is a much more poisonous place +than the average tavern; still, as I say, one's age masters one, and +clouds and bewilders the intelligence, and the real story of "The +Soldiers' Rest", with its "sonus epulantium in aeterno convivio", was +ruined at the moment of its birth, and it was some time later that the +actual story got written. And in the meantime the plot of "The Bowmen" +occurred to me. Now it has been murmured and hinted and suggested and +whispered in all sorts of quarters that before I wrote the tale I had +heard something. The most decorative of these legends is also the most +precise: "I know for a fact that the whole thing was given him in +typescript by a lady-in-waiting." This was not the case; and all +vaguer reports to the effect that I had heard some rumours or hints of +rumours are equally void of any trace of truth. + +Again I apologise for entering so pompously into the minutiae of my bit +of a story, as if it were the lost poems of Sappho; but it appears +that the subject interests the public, and I comply with my +instructions. I take it, then, that the origins of "The Bowmen" were +composite. First of all, all ages and nations have cherished the +thought that spiritual hosts may come to the help of earthly arms, +that gods and heroes and saints have descended from their high +immortal places to fight for their worshippers and clients. Then +Kipling's story of the ghostly Indian regiment got in my head and got +mixed with the mediaevalism that is always there; and so "The Bowmen" +was written. I was heartily disappointed with it, I remember, and +thought it--as I still think it--an indifferent piece of work. +However, I have tried to write for these thirty-five long years, and +if I have not become practised in letters, I am at least a past master +in the Lodge of Disappointment. Such as it was, "The Bowmen" appeared +in _The Evening News_ of September 29th, 1914. + +Now the journalist does not, as a rule, dwell much on the prospect of +fame; and if he be an evening journalist, his anticipations of +immortality are bounded by twelve o'clock at night at the latest; and +it may well be that those insects which begin to live in the morning +and are dead by sunset deem themselves immortal. Having written my +story, having groaned and growled over it and printed it, I certainly +never thought to hear another word of it. My colleague "The Londoner" +praised it warmly to my face, as his kindly fashion is; entering, very +properly, a technical caveat as to the language of the battle-cries of +the bowmen. "Why should English archers use French terms?" he said. I +replied that the only reason was this--that a "Monseigneur" here and +there struck me as picturesque; and I reminded him that, as a matter +of cold historical fact, most of the archers of Agincourt were +mercenaries from Gwent, my native country, who would appeal to +Mihangel and to saints not known to the Saxons--Teilo, Iltyd, Dewi, +Cadwaladyr Vendigeid. And I thought that that was the first and last +discussion of "The Bowmen". But in a few days from its publication the +editor of _The Occult Review_ wrote to me. He wanted to know whether +the story had any foundation in fact. I told him that it had no +foundation in fact of any kind or sort; I forget whether I added that +it had no foundation in rumour but I should think not, since to the +best of my belief there were no rumours of heavenly interposition in +existence at that time. Certainly I had heard of none. Soon afterwards +the editor of _Light_ wrote asking a like question, and I made him a +like reply. It seemed to me that I had stifled any "Bowmen" mythos in +the hour of its birth. + +A month or two later, I received several requests from editors of +parish magazines to reprint the story. I--or, rather, my editor-- +readily gave permission; and then, after another month or two, the +conductor of one of these magazines wrote to me, saying that the +February issue containing the story had been sold out, while there was +still a great demand for it. Would I allow them to reprint "The +Bowmen" as a pamphlet, and would I write a short preface giving the +exact authorities for the story? I replied that they might reprint in +pamphlet form with all my heart, but that I could not give my +authorities, since I had none, the tale being pure invention. The +priest wrote again, suggesting--to my amazement--that I must be +mistaken, that the main "facts" of "The Bowmen" must be true, that my +share in the matter must surely have been confined to the elaboration +and decoration of a veridical history. It seemed that my light fiction +had been accepted by the congregation of this particular church as the +solidest of facts; and it was then that it began to dawn on me that if +I had failed in the art of letters, I had succeeded, unwittingly, in +the art of deceit. This happened, I should think, some time in April, +and the snowball of rumour that was then set rolling has been rolling +ever since, growing bigger and bigger, till it is now swollen to a +monstrous size. + +It was at about this period that variants of my tale began to be told +as authentic histories. At first, these tales betrayed their relation +to their original. In several of them the vegetarian restaurant +appeared, and St. George was the chief character. In one case an +officer--name and address missing--said that there was a portrait of +St. George in a certain London restaurant, and that a figure, just +like the portrait, appeared to him on the battlefield, and was invoked +by him, with the happiest results. Another variant--this, I think, +never got into print--told how dead Prussians had been found on the +battlefield with arrow wounds in their bodies. This notion amused me, +as I had imagined a scene, when I was thinking out the story, in which +a German general was to appear before the Kaiser to explain his +failure to annihilate the English. + +"All-Highest," the general was to say, "it is true, it is impossible +to deny it. The men were killed by arrows; the shafts were found in +their bodies by the burying parties." + +I rejected the idea as over-precipitous even for a mere fantasy. I was +therefore entertained when I found that what I had refused as too +fantastical for fantasy was accepted in certain occult circles as hard +fact. + +Other versions of the story appeared in which a cloud interposed +between the attacking Germans and the defending British. In some +examples the cloud served to conceal our men from the advancing enemy; +in others, it disclosed shining shapes which frightened the horses of +the pursuing German cavalry. St. George, it will he noted, has +disappeared--he persisted some time longer in certain Roman Catholic +variants--and there are no more bowmen, no more arrows. But so far +angels are not mentioned; yet they are ready to appear, and I think +that I have detected the machine which brought them into the story. + +In "The Bowmen" my imagined soldier saw "a long line of shapes, with a +shining about them." And Mr. A.P. Sinnett, writing in the May issue of +_The Occult Review_, reporting what he had heard, states that "those +who could see said they saw 'a row of shining beings' between the two +armies." Now I conjecture that the word "shining" is the link between +my tale and the derivative from it. In the popular view shining and +benevolent supernatural beings are angels, and so, I believe, the +Bowmen of my story have become "the Angels of Mons." In this shape +they have been received with respect and credence everywhere, or +almost everywhere. + +And here, I conjecture, we have the key to the large popularity of the +delusion--as I think it. We have long ceased in England to take much +interest in saints, and in the recent revival of the cultus of St. +George, the saint is little more than a patriotic figurehead. And the +appeal to the saints to succour us is certainly not a common English +practice; it is held Popish by most of our countrymen. But angels, +with certain reservations, have retained their popularity, and so, +when it was settled that the English army in its dire peril was +delivered by angelic aid, the way was clear for general belief, and +for the enthusiasms of the religion of the man in the street. And so +soon as the legend got the title "The Angels of Mons" it became +impossible to avoid it. It permeated the Press: it would not be +neglected; it appeared in the most unlikely quarters--in _Truth_ and +_Town Topics_, _The New Church Weekly_ (Swedenborgian) and _John +Bull_. The editor of _The Church Times_ has exercised a wise reserve: +he awaits that evidence which so far is lacking; but in one issue of +the paper I noted that the story furnished a text for a sermon, the +subject of a letter, and the matter for an article. People send me +cuttings from provincial papers containing hot controversy as to the +exact nature of the appearances; the "Office Window" of _The Daily +Chronicle_ suggests scientific explanations of the hallucination; the +_Pall Mall_ in a note about St. James says he is of the brotherhood of +the Bowmen of Mons--this reversion to the bowmen from the angels being +possibly due to the strong statements that I have made on the matter. +The pulpits both of the Church and of Non-conformity have been busy: +Bishop Welldon, Dean Hensley Henson (a disbeliever), Bishop Taylor +Smith (the Chaplain-General), and many other clergy have occupied +themselves with the matter. Dr. Horton preached about the "angels" at +Manchester; Sir Joseph Compton Rickett (President of the National +Federation of Free Church Councils) stated that the soldiers at the +front had seen visions and dreamed dreams, and had given testimony of +powers and principalities fighting for them or against them. Letters +come from all the ends of the earth to the Editor of _The Evening +News_ with theories, beliefs, explanations, suggestions. It is all +somewhat wonderful; one can say that the whole affair is a +psychological phenomenon of considerable interest, fairly comparable +with the great Russian delusion of last August and September. + + + * * * * * + + +Now it is possible that some persons, judging by the tone of these +remarks of mine, may gather the impression that I am a profound +disbeliever in the possibility of any intervention of the +super-physical order in the affairs of the physical order. They will +be mistaken if they make this inference; they will be mistaken if they +suppose that I think miracles in Judaea credible but miracles in France +or Flanders incredible. I hold no such absurdities. But I confess, +very frankly, that I credit none of the "Angels of Mons" legends, +partly because I see, or think I see, their derivation from my own +idle fiction, but chiefly because I have, so far, not received one jot +or tittle of evidence that should dispose me to belief. It is idle, +indeed, and foolish enough for a man to say: "I am sure that story is +a lie, because the supernatural element enters into it;" here, indeed, +we have the maggot writhing in the midst of corrupted offal denying +the existence of the sun. But if this fellow be a fool--as he is-- +equally foolish is he who says, "If the tale has anything of the +supernatural it is true, and the less evidence the better;" and I am +afraid this tends to be the attitude of many who call themselves +occultists. I hope that I shall never get to that frame of mind. So I +say, not that super-normal interventions are impossible, not that they +have not happened during this war--I know nothing as to that point, +one way or the other--but that there is not one atom of evidence (so +far) to support the current stories of the angels of Mons. For, be it +remarked, these stories are specific stories. They rest on the second, +third, fourth, fifth hand stories told by "a soldier," by "an +officer," by "a Catholic correspondent," by "a nurse," by any number +of anonymous people. Indeed, names have been mentioned. A lady's name +has been drawn, most unwarrantably as it appears to me, into the +discussion, and I have no doubt that this lady has been subject to a +good deal of pestering and annoyance. She has written to the Editor of +_The Evening News_ denying all knowledge of the supposed miracle. The +Psychical Research Society's expert confesses that no real evidence +has been proffered to her Society on the matter. And then, to my +amazement, she accepts as fact the proposition that some men on the +battlefield have been "hallucinated," and proceeds to give the theory +of sensory hallucination. She forgets that, by her own showing, there +is no reason to suppose that anybody has been hallucinated at all. +Someone (unknown) has met a nurse (unnamed) who has talked to a +soldier (anonymous) who has seen angels. But _that_ is not evidence; +and not even Sam Weller at his gayest would have dared to offer it as +such in the Court of Common Pleas. So far, then, nothing remotely +approaching proof has been offered as to any supernatural intervention +during the Retreat from Mons. Proof may come; if so, it will be +interesting and more than interesting. + + + +But, taking the affair as it stands at present, how is it that a +nation plunged in materialism of the grossest kind has accepted idle +rumours and gossip of the supernatural as certain truth? The answer is +contained in the question: it is precisely because our whole +atmosphere is materialist that we are ready to credit anything--save +the truth. Separate a man from good drink, he will swallow methylated +spirit with joy. Man is created to be inebriated; to be "nobly wild, +not mad." Suffer the Cocoa Prophets and their company to seduce him in +body and spirit, and he will get himself stuff that will make him +ignobly wild and mad indeed. It took hard, practical men of affairs, +business men, advanced thinkers, Freethinkers, to believe in Madame +Blavatsky and Mahatmas and the famous message from the Golden Shore: +"Judge's plan is right; follow him and _stick_." + +And the main responsibility for this dismal state of affairs +undoubtedly lies on the shoulders of the majority of the clergy of the +Church of England. Christianity, as Mr. W.L. Courtney has so admirably +pointed out, is a great Mystery Religion; it is _the_ Mystery +Religion. Its priests are called to an awful and tremendous hierurgy; +its pontiffs are to be the pathfinders, the bridge-makers between the +world of sense and the world of spirit. And, in fact, they pass their +time in preaching, not the eternal mysteries, but a twopenny morality, +in changing the Wine of Angels and the Bread of Heaven into gingerbeer +and mixed biscuits: a sorry transubstantiation, a sad alchemy, as it +seems to me. + + + + + +The Bowmen + +It was during the Retreat of the Eighty Thousand, and the authority of +the Censorship is sufficient excuse for not being more explicit. But +it was on the most awful day of that awful time, on the day when ruin +and disaster came so near that their shadow fell over London far away; +and, without any certain news, the hearts of men failed within them +and grew faint; as if the agony of the army in the battlefield had +entered into their souls. + +On this dreadful day, then, when three hundred thousand men in arms +with all their artillery swelled like a flood against the little +English company, there was one point above all other points in our +battle line that was for a time in awful danger, not merely of defeat, +but of utter annihilation. With the permission of the Censorship and +of the military expert, this corner may, perhaps, be described as a +salient, and if this angle were crushed and broken, then the English +force as a whole would be shattered, the Allied left would be turned, +and Sedan would inevitably follow. + +All the morning the German guns had thundered and shrieked against +this corner, and against the thousand or so of men who held it. The +men joked at the shells, and found funny names for them, and had bets +about them, and greeted them with scraps of music-hall songs. But the +shells came on and burst, and tore good Englishmen limb from limb, and +tore brother from brother, and as the heat of the day increased so did +the fury of that terrific cannonade. There was no help, it seemed. The +English artillery was good, but there was not nearly enough of it; it +was being steadily battered into scrap iron. + +There comes a moment in a storm at sea when people say to one another, +"It is at its worst; it can blow no harder," and then there is a blast +ten times more fierce than any before it. So it was in these British +trenches. + +There were no stouter hearts in the whole world than the hearts of +these men; but even they were appalled as this seven-times-heated +hell of the German cannonade fell upon them and overwhelmed them and +destroyed them. And at this very moment they saw from their trenches +that a tremendous host was moving against their lines. Five hundred of +the thousand remained, and as far as they could see the German +infantry was pressing on against them, column upon column, a grey +world of men, ten thousand of them, as it appeared afterwards. + +There was no hope at all. They shook hands, some of them. One man +improvised a new version of the battlesong, "Good-bye, good-bye to +Tipperary," ending with "And we shan't get there". And they all went +on firing steadily. The officers pointed out that such an opportunity +for high-class, fancy shooting might never occur again; the Germans +dropped line after line; the Tipperary humorist asked, "What price +Sidney Street?" And the few machine guns did their best. But everybody +knew it was of no use. The dead grey bodies lay in companies and +battalions, as others came on and on and on, and they swarmed and +stirred and advanced from beyond and beyond. + +"World without end. Amen," said one of the British soldiers with some +irrelevance as he took aim and fired. And then he remembered--he says +he cannot think why or wherefore--a queer vegetarian restaurant in +London where he had once or twice eaten eccentric dishes of cutlets +made of lentils and nuts that pretended to be steak. On all the plates +in this restaurant there was printed a figure of St. George in blue, +with the motto, _Adsit Anglis Sanctus Geogius_--May St. George be a +present help to the English. This soldier happened to know Latin and +other useless things, and now, as he fired at his man in the grey +advancing mass--300 yards away--he uttered the pious vegetarian +motto. He went on firing to the end, and at last Bill on his right had +to clout him cheerfully over the head to make him stop, pointing out +as he did so that the King's ammunition cost money and was not lightly +to be wasted in drilling funny patterns into dead Germans. + +For as the Latin scholar uttered his invocation he felt something +between a shudder and an electric shock pass through his body. The +roar of the battle died down in his ears to a gentle murmur; instead +of it, he says, he heard a great voice and a shout louder than a +thunder-peal crying, "Array, array, array!" + +His heart grew hot as a burning coal, it grew cold as ice within him, +as it seemed to him that a tumult of voices answered to his summons. +He heard, or seemed to hear, thousands shouting: "St. George! St. +George!" + +"Ha! messire; ha! sweet Saint, grant us good deliverance!" + +"St. George for merry England!" + +"Harow! Harow! Monseigneur St. George, succour us." + +"Ha! St. George! Ha! St. George! a long bow and a strong bow." + +"Heaven's Knight, aid us!" + +And as the soldier heard these voices he saw before him, beyond the +trench, a long line of shapes, with a shining about them. They were +like men who drew the bow, and with another shout their cloud of +arrows flew singing and tingling through the air towards the German +hosts. + +The other men in the trench were firing all the while. They had no +hope; but they aimed just as if they had been shooting at Bisley. +Suddenly one of them lifted up his voice in the plainest English, +"Gawd help us!" he bellowed to the man next to him, "but we're +blooming marvels! Look at those grey... gentlemen, look at them! D'ye +see them? They're not going down in dozens, nor in 'undreds; it's +thousands, it is. Look! look! there's a regiment gone while I'm +talking to ye." + +"Shut it!" the other soldier bellowed, taking aim, "what are ye +gassing about!" + +But he gulped with astonishment even as he spoke, for, indeed, the +grey men were falling by the thousands. The English could hear the +guttural scream of the German officers, the crackle of their revolvers +as they shot the reluctant; and still line after line crashed to the +earth. + +All the while the Latin-bred soldier heard the cry: "Harow! Harow! +Monseigneur, dear saint, quick to our aid! St. George help us!" + +"High Chevalier, defend us!" + +The singing arrows fled so swift and thick that they darkened the air; +the heathen horde melted from before them. + +"More machine guns!" Bill yelled to Tom. + +"Don't hear them," Tom yelled back. "But, thank God, anyway; they've +got it in the neck." + +In fact, there were ten thousand dead German soldiers left before that +salient of the English army, and consequently there was no Sedan. In +Germany, a country ruled by scientific principles, the Great General +Staff decided that the contemptible English must have employed shells +containing an unknown gas of a poisonous nature, as no wounds were +discernible on the bodies of the dead German soldiers. But the man who +knew what nuts tasted like when they called themselves steak knew also +that St. George had brought his Agincourt Bowmen to help the English. + + + + + +The Soldiers' Rest + +The soldier with the ugly wound in the head opened his eyes at last, +and looked about him with an air of pleasant satisfaction. + +He still felt drowsy and dazed with some fierce experience through +which he had passed, but so far he could not recollect much about it. +But--an agreeable glow began to steal about his heart--such a glow as +comes to people who have been in a tight place and have come through +it better than they had expected. In its mildest form this set of +emotions may be observed in passengers who have crossed the Channel on +a windy day without being sick. They triumph a little internally, and +are suffused with vague, kindly feelings. + +The wounded soldier was somewhat of this disposition as he opened his +eyes, pulled himself together, and looked about him. He felt a sense +of delicious ease and repose in bones that had been racked and weary, +and deep in the heart that had so lately been tormented there was an +assurance of comfort--of the battle won. The thundering, roaring waves +were passed; he had entered into the haven of calm waters. After +fatigues and terrors that as yet he could not recollect he seemed now +to be resting in the easiest of all easy chairs in a dim, low room. + +In the hearth there was a glint of fire and a blue, sweet-scented puff +of wood smoke; a great black oak beam roughly hewn crossed the +ceiling. Through the leaded panes of the windows he saw a rich glow of +sunlight, green lawns, and against the deepest and most radiant of all +blue skies the wonderful far-lifted towers of a vast, Gothic +cathedral--mystic, rich with imagery. + +"Good Lord!" he murmured to himself. "I didn't know they had such +places in France. It's just like Wells. And it might be the other day +when I was going past the Swan, just as it might be past that window, +and asked the ostler what time it was, and he says, 'What time? Why, +summer-time'; and there outside it looks like summer that would last +for ever. If this was an inn they ought to call it _The Soldiers' +Rest_." + +He dozed off again, and when he opened his eyes once more a kindly +looking man in some sort of black robe was standing by him. + +"It's all right now, isn't it?" he said, speaking in good English. + +"Yes, thank you, sir, as right as can be. I hope to be back again +soon." + +"Well well; but how did you come here? Where did you get that?" He +pointed to the wound on the soldier's forehead. + +The soldier put his hand: up to his brow and looked dazed and puzzled. + +"Well, sir," he said at last, "it was like this, to begin at the +beginning. You know how we came over in August, and there we were in +the thick of it, as you might say, in a day or two. An awful time it +was, and I don't know how I got through it alive. My best friend was +killed dead beside me as we lay in the trenches. By Cambrai, I think +it was. + +"Then things got a little quieter for a bit, and I was quartered in a +village for the best part of a week. She was a very nice lady where I +was, and she treated me proper with the best of everything. Her +husband he was fighting; but she had the nicest little boy I ever +knew, a little fellow of five, or six it might be, and we got on +splendid. The amount of their lingo that kid taught me--'We, we' and +'Bong swot' and 'Commong voo potty we' and all--and I taught him +English. You should have heard that nipper say ''Arf a mo', old un!' +It was a treat. + +"Then one day we got surprised. There was about a dozen of us in the +village, and two or three hundred Germans came down on us early one +morning. They got us; no help for 'it. Before we could shoot. + +"Well there we were. They tied our hands behind our backs, and smacked +our faces and kicked us a bit, and we were lined up opposite the house +where I'd been staying. + +"And then that poor little chap broke away from his mother, and he run +out and saw one of the Boshes, as we call them, fetch me one over the +jaw with his clenched fist. Oh dear! oh dear! he might have done it a +dozen times if only that little child hadn't seen him. + +"He had a poor bit of a toy I'd bought him at the village shop; a toy +gun it was. And out he came running, as I say, Crying out something in +French like 'Bad man! bad man! don't hurt my Anglish or I shoot you'; +and he pointed that gun at the German soldier. The German, he took his +bayonet, and he drove it right through the poor little chap's throat." + +The soldier's face worked and twitched and twisted itself into a sort +of grin, and he sat grinding his teeth and staring at the man in the +black robe. He was silent for a little. And then he found his voice, +and the oaths rolled terrible, thundering from him, as he cursed that +murderous wretch, and bade him go down and burn for ever in hell. And +the tears were raining down his face, and they choked him at last. + +"I beg your pardon, sir, I'm sure," he said, "especially you being a +minister of some kind, I suppose; but I can't help it, he was such a +dear little man." + +The man in black murmured something to himself: "_Pretiosa in +conspectu Domini mors innocentium ejus_"--Dear in the sight of the +Lord is the death of His innocents. Then he put a hand very gently on +the soldier's shoulder. + +"Never mind," said he; "I've seen some service in my time, myself. But +what about that wound?" + +"Oh, that; that's nothing. But I'll tell you how I got it. It was just +like this. The Germans had us fair, as I tell you, and they shut us up +in a barn in the village; just flung us on the ground and left us to +starve seemingly. They barred up the big door of the barn, and put a +sentry there, and thought we were all right. + +"There were sort of slits like very narrow windows in one of the +walls, and on the second day it was, I was looking out of these slits +down the street, and I could see those German devils were up to +mischief. They were planting their machine-guns everywhere handy where +an ordinary man coming up the street would never see them, but I see +them, and I see the infantry lining up behind the garden walls. Then I +had a sort of a notion of what was coming; and presently, sure +enough, I could hear some of our chaps singing 'Hullo, hullo, hullo!' +in the distance; and I says to myself, 'Not this time.' + +"So I looked about me, and I found a hole under the wall; a kind of a +drain I should think it was, and I found I could just squeeze through. +And I got out and crept, round, and away I goes running down the +street, yelling for all I was worth, just as our chaps were getting +round the corner at the bottom. 'Bang, bang!' went the guns, behind me +and in front of me, and on each side of me, and then--bash! something +hit me on the head and over I went; and I don't remember anything more +till I woke up here just now." + +The soldier lay back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment. +When he opened them he saw that there were other people in the room +besides the minister in the black robes. One was a man in a big black +cloak. He had a grim old face and a great beaky nose. He shook the +soldier by the hand. + +"By God! sir," he said, "you're a credit to the British Army; you're a +damned fine soldier and a good man, and, by God! I'm proud to shake +hands with you." + +And then someone came out of the shadow, someone in queer clothes such +as the soldier had seen worn by the heralds when he had been on duty +at the opening of Parliament by the King. + +"Now, by _Corpus Domini_," this man said, "of all knights ye be +noblest and gentlest, and ye be of fairest report, and now ye be a +brother of the noblest brotherhood that ever was since this world's +beginning, since ye have yielded dear life for your friends' sake." + +The soldier did not understand what the man was saying to him. There +were others, too, in strange dresses, who came and spoke to him. Some +spoke in what sounded like French. He could not make it out; but he +knew that they all spoke kindly and praised him. + +"What does it all mean?" he said to the minister. "What are they +talking about? They don't think I'd let down my pals?" + +"Drink this," said the minister, and he handed the soldier a great +silver cup, brimming with wine. + +The soldier took a deep draught, and in that moment all his sorrows +passed from him. + +"What is it?" he asked? + +"_Vin nouveau du Royaume_," said the minister. "New Wine of the +Kingdom, you call it." And then he bent down and murmured in the +soldier's ear. + +"What," said the wounded man, "the place they used to tell us about in +Sunday school? With such drink and such joy--" + +His voice was hushed. For as he looked at the minister the fashion of +his vesture was changed. The black robe seemed to melt away from him. +He was all in armour, if armour be made of starlight, of the rose of +dawn, and of sunset fires; and he lifted up a great sword of flame. + + Full in the midst, his Cross of Red Triumphant Michael brandished, + And trampled the Apostate's pride. + + + + + +The Monstrance + + Then it fell out in the sacring of the Mass that right as the + priest heaved up the Host there came a beam redder than any rose and + smote upon it, and then it was changed bodily into the shape and + fashion of a Child having his arms stretched forth, as he had been + nailed upon the Tree.--Old Romance. + +So far things were going very well indeed. The night was thick and +black and cloudy, and the German force had come three-quarters of their +way or more without an alarm. There was no challenge from the English +lines; and indeed the English were being kept busy by a high shell-fire +on their front. This had been the German plan; and it was coming off +admirably. Nobody thought that there was any danger on the left; and so +the Prussians, writhing on their stomachs over the ploughed field, were +drawing nearer and nearer to the wood. Once there they could establish +themselves comfortably and securely during what remained of the night; +and at dawn the English left would be hopelessly enfiladed--and there +would be another of those movements which people who really understand +military matters call "readjustments of our line." + +The noise made by the men creeping and crawling over the fields was +drowned by the cannonade, from the English side as well as the German. +On the English centre and right things were indeed very brisk; the big +guns were thundering and shrieking and roaring, the machine-guns were +keeping up the very devil's racket; the flares and illuminating shells +were as good as the Crystal Palace in the old days, as the soldiers +said to one another. All this had been thought of and thought out on +the other side. The German force was beautifully organised. The men who +crept nearer and nearer to the wood carried quite a number of machine +guns in bits on their backs; others of them had small bags full of +sand; yet others big bags that were empty. When the wood was reached +the sand from the small bags was to be emptied into the big bags; the +machine-gun parts were to be put together, the guns mounted behind the +sandbag redoubt, and then, as Major Von und Zu pleasantly observed, +"the English pigs shall to gehenna-fire quickly come." + +The major was so well pleased with the way things had gone that he +permitted himself a very low and guttural chuckle; in another ten +minutes success would be assured. He half turned his head round to +whisper a caution about some detail of the sandbag business to the big +sergeant-major, Karl Heinz, who was crawling just behind him. At that +instant Karl Heinz leapt into the air with a scream that rent through +the night and through all the roaring of the artillery. He cried in a +terrible voice, "The Glory of the Lord!" and plunged and pitched +forward, stone dead. They said that his face as he stood up there and +cried aloud was as if it had been seen through a sheet of flame. + +"They" were one or two out of the few who got back to the German lines. +Most of the Prussians stayed in the ploughed field. Karl Heinz's scream +had frozen the blood of the English soldiers, but it had also ruined +the major's plans. He and his men, caught all unready, clumsy with the +burdens that they carried, were shot to pieces; hardly a score of them +returned. The rest of the force were attended to by an English burying +party. According to custom the dead men were searched before they were +buried, and some singular relies of the campaign were found upon them, +but nothing so singular as Karl Heinz's diary. + +He had been keeping it for some time. It began with entries about +bread and sausage and the ordinary incidents of the trenches; here +and there Karl wrote about an old grandfather, and a big china pipe, +and pinewoods and roast goose. Then the diarist seemed to get fidgety +about his health. Thus: + + April 17.--Annoyed for some days by murmuring sounds in my head. I + trust I shall not become deaf, like my departed uncle Christopher. + + April 20.--The noise in my head grows worse; it is a humming sound. + It distracts me; twice I have failed to hear the captain and have + been reprimanded. + + April 22.--So bad is my head that I go to see the doctor. He speaks + of tinnitus, and gives me an inhaling apparatus that shall reach, he + says, the middle ear. + + April 25.--The apparatus is of no use. The sound is now become like + the booming of a great church bell. It reminds me of the bell at St. + Lambart on that terrible day of last August. + + April 26.--I could swear that it is the bell of St. Lambart that I + hear all the time. They rang it as the procession came out of the + church. + +The man's writing, at first firm enough, begins to straggle unevenly +over the page at this point. The entries show that he became convinced +that he heard the bell of St. Lambart's Church ringing, though (as he +knew better than most men) there had been no bell and no church at St. +Lambart's since the summer of 1914. There was no village either--the +whole place was a rubbish-heap. + +Then the unfortunate Karl Heinz was beset with other troubles. + + May 2.--I fear I am becoming ill. To-day Joseph Kleist, who is next + to me in the trench, asked me why I jerked my head to the right so + constantly. I told him to hold his tongue; but this shows that I am + noticed. I keep fancying that there is something white just beyond + the range of my sight on the right hand. + + May 3.--This whiteness is now quite clear, and in front of me. All + this day it has slowly passed before me. I asked Joseph Kleist if he + saw a piece of newspaper just beyond the trench. He stared at me + solemnly--he is a stupid fool--and said, "There is no paper." + + May 4.--It looks like a white robe. There was a strong smell of + incense to-day in the trench. No one seemed to notice it. There is + decidedly a white robe, and I think I can see feet, passing very + slowly before me at this moment while I write. + +There is no space here for continuous extracts from Karl Heinz's diary. +But to condense with severity, it would seem that he slowly gathered +about himself a complete set of sensory hallucinations. First the +auditory hallucination of the sound of a bell, which the doctor called +tinnitus. Then a patch of white growing into a white robe, then the +smell of incense. At last he lived in two worlds. He saw his trench, +and the level before it, and the English lines; he talked with his +comrades and obeyed orders, though with a certain difficulty; but he +also heard the deep boom of St. Lambart's bell, and saw continually +advancing towards him a white procession of little children, led by a +boy who was swinging a censer. There is one extraordinary entry: "But +in August those children carried no lilies; now they have lilies in +their hands. Why should they have lilies?" + +It is interesting to note the transition over the border line. After +May 2 there is no reference in the diary to bodily illness, with two +notable exceptions. Up to and including that date the sergeant knows +that he is suffering from illusions; after that he accepts his +hallucinations as actualities. The man who cannot see what he sees and +hear what he hears is a fool. So he writes: "I ask who is singing 'Ave +Maria Stella.' That blockhead Friedrich Schumacher raises his crest and +answers insolently that no one sings, since singing is strictly +forbidden for the present." + +A few days before the disastrous night expedition the last figure in +the procession appeared to those sick eyes. + + The old priest now comes in his golden robe, the two boys holding + each side of it. He is looking just as he did when he died, save + that when he walked in St. Lambart there was no shining round his + head. But this is illusion and contrary to reason, since no one has + a shining about his head. I must take some medicine. + +Note here that Karl Heinz absolutely accepts the appearance of the +martyred priest of St. Lambart as actual, while he thinks that the halo +must be an illusion; and so he reverts again to his physical condition. + +The priest held up both his hands, the diary states, "as if there were +something between them. But there is a sort of cloud or dimness over +this object, whatever it may be. My poor Aunt Kathie suffered much +from her eyes in her old age." + + * * * * * + +One can guess what the priest of St. Lambart carried in his hands when +he and the little children went out into the hot sunlight to implore +mercy, while the great resounding bell of St. Lambart boomed over the +plain. Karl Heinz knew what happened then; they said that it was he +who killed the old priest and helped to crucify the little child +against the church door. The baby was only three years old. He died +calling piteously for "mummy" and "daddy." + + * * * * * + +And those who will may guess what Karl Heinz saw when the mist cleared +from before the monstrance in the priest's hands. Then he shrieked and +died. + + + + + +The Dazzling Light + + The new head-covering is made of heavy steel, which has been + specialty treated to increase its resisting power. The walls + protecting the skull are particularly thick, and the weight of the + helmet renders its use in open warfare out of the question. The rim + is large, like that of the headpiece of Mambrino, and the soldier + can at will either bring the helmet forward and protect his eyes or + wear it so as to protect the base of the skull . . . Military + experts admit that continuance of the present trench warfare may + lead to those engaged in it, especially bombing parties and barbed + wire cutters, being more heavily armoured than the knights, who + fought at Bouvines and at Agincourt.--_The Times_, July 22, 1915 + +The war is already a fruitful mother of legends. Some people think +that there are too many war legends, and a Croydon gentleman--or lady, +I am not sure which--wrote to me quite recently telling me that a +certain particular legend, which I will not specify, had become the +"chief horror of the war." There may be something to be said for this +point of view, but it strikes me as interesting that the old +myth-making faculty has survived into these days, a relic of noble, +far-off Homeric battles. And after all, what do we know? It does not +do to be too sure that this, that, or the other hasn't happened and +couldn't have happened. + +What follows, at any rate, has no claim to be considered either as +legend or as myth. It is merely one of the odd circumstances of these +times, and I have no doubt it can easily be "explained away." In fact, +the rationalistic explanation of the whole thing is patent and on the +surface. There is only one little difficulty, and that, I fancy, is by +no means insuperable. In any case this one knot or tangle may be put +down as a queer coincidence and nothing more. + +Here, then, is the curiosity or oddity in question. A young fellow, +whom we will call for avoidance of all identification Delamere Smith-- +he is now Lieutenant Delamere Smith--was spending his holidays on the +coast of west South Wales at the beginning of the war. He was +something or other not very important in the City, and in his leisure +hours he smattered lightly and agreeably a little literature, a little +art, a little antiquarianism. He liked the Italian primitives, he knew +the difference between first, second, and third pointed, he had looked +through Boutell's "Engraved Brasses." He had been heard indeed to +speak with enthusiasm of the brasses of Sir Robert de Septvans and Sir +Roger de Trumpington. + +One morning--he thinks it must have been the morning of August 16, +1914--the sun shone so brightly into his room that he woke early, and +the fancy took him that it would be fine to sit on the cliffs in the +pure sunlight. So he dressed and went out, and climbed up Giltar +Point, and sat there enjoying the sweet air and the radiance of the +sea, and the sight of the fringe of creaming foam about the grey +foundations of St. Margaret's Island. Then he looked beyond and gazed +at the new white monastery on Caldy, and wondered who the architect +was, and how he had contrived to make the group of buildings look +exactly like the background of a mediaeval picture. + +After about an hour of this and a couple of pipes, Smith confesses +that he began to feel extremely drowsy. He was just wondering whether +it would be pleasant to stretch himself out on the wild thyme that +scented the high place and go to sleep till breakfast, when the +mounting sun caught one of the monastery windows, and Smith stared +sleepily at the darting flashing light till it dazzled him. Then he +felt "queer." There was an odd sensation as if the top of his head +were dilating and contracting, and then he says he had a sort of +shock, something between a mild current of electricity and the +sensation of putting one's hand into the ripple of a swift brook. + +Now, what happened next Smith cannot describe at all clearly. He knew +he was on Giltar, looking across the waves to Caldy; he heard all the +while the hollow, booming tide in the caverns of the rocks far below +him, And yet he saw, as if in a glass, a very different country--a +level fenland cut by slow streams, by long avenues of trimmed trees. + +"It looked," he says, "as if it ought to have been a lonely country, +but it was swarming with men; they were thick as ants in an anthill. +And they were all dressed in armour; that was the strange thing about +it. + +"I thought I was standing by what looked as if it had been a +farmhouse; but it was all battered to bits, just a heap of ruins and +rubbish. All that was left was one tall round chimney, shaped very +much like the fifteenth-century chimneys in Pembrokeshire. And +thousands and tens of thousands went marching by. + +"They were all in armour, and in all sorts of armour. Some of them had +overlapping tongues of bright metal fastened on their clothes, others +were in chain mail from head to foot, others were in heavy plate +armour. + +"They wore helmets of all shapes and sorts and sizes. One regiment had +steel caps with wide trims, something like the old barbers' basins. +Another lot had knights' tilting helmets on, closed up so that you +couldn't see their faces. Most of them wore metal gauntlets, either of +steel rings or plates, and they had steel over their boots. A great +many had things like battle-maces swinging by their sides, and all +these fellows carried a sort of string of big metal balls round their +waist. Then a dozen regiments went by, every man with a steel shield +slung over his shoulder. The last to go by were cross-bowmen." + +In fact, it appeared to Delamere Smith that he watched the passing of +a host of men in mediaeval armour before him, and yet he knew--by the +position of the sun and of a rosy cloud that was passing over the +Worm's Head--that this vision, or whatever it was, only lasted a +second or two. Then that slight sense of shock returned, and Smith +returned to the contemplation of the physical phenomena of the +Pembrokeshire coast--blue waves, grey St. Margaret's, and Caldy Abbey +white in the sunlight. + +It will be said, no doubt, and very likely with truth, that Smith fell +asleep on Giltar, and mingled in a dream the thought of the great war +just begun with his smatterings of mediaeval battle and arms and +armour. The explanation seems tolerable enough. + +But there is the one little difficulty. It has been said that Smith is +now Lieutenant Smith. He got his commission last autumn, and went out +in May. He happens to speak French rather well, and so he has become +what is called, I believe, an officer of liaison, or some such term. +Anyhow, he is often behind the French lines. + +He was home on short leave last week, and said: + +"Ten days ago I was ordered to ----. I got there early in the morning, +and had to wait a bit before I could see the General. I looked about +me, and there on the left of us was a farm shelled into a heap of +ruins, with one round chimney standing, shaped like the 'Flemish' +chimneys in Pembrokeshire. And then the men in armour marched by, just +as I had seen them--French regiments. The things like battle-maces +were bomb-throwers, and the metal balls round the men's waists were +the bombs. They told me that the cross-bows were used for +bomb-shooting. + +"The march I saw was part of a big movement; you will hear more of it +before long." + + + + + +The Bowmen And Other Noble Ghosts + +By "The Londoner" + +There was a journalist--and the _Evening News_ reader well knows the +initials of his name--who lately sat down to write a story. + + * * + +Of course his story had to be about the war; there are no other +stories nowadays. And so he wrote of English soldiers who, in the dusk +on a field of France, faced the sullen mass of the oncoming Huns. They +were few against fearful odds, but, as they sent the breech-bolt home +and aimed and fired, they became aware that others fought beside them. +Down the air came cries to St. George and twanging of the bow-string; +the old bowmen of England had risen at England's need from their +graves in that French earth and were fighting for England. + + * * + +He said that he made up that story by himself, that he sat down and +wrote it out of his head. But others knew better. It must really have +happened. There was, I remember, a clergyman of good credit who told +him that he was clean mistaken; the archers had really and truly risen +up to fight for England: the tale was all up and down the front. + +For my part I had thought that he wrote out of his head; I had seen +him at the detestable job of doing it. I myself have hated this +business of writing ever since I found out that it was not so easy as +it looks, and I can always spare a little sympathy for a man who is +driving a pen to the task of putting words in their right places. Yet +the clergyman persuaded me at last. Who am I that I should doubt the +faith of a clerk in holy orders? It must have happened. Those archers +fought for us, and the grey-goose feather has flown once again in +English battle. + + * * + +Since that day I look eagerly for the ghosts who must be taking their +share in this world-war. Never since the world began was such a war as +this: surely Marlborough and the Duke, Talbot and Harry of Monmouth, +and many another shadowy captain must be riding among our horsemen. +The old gods of war are wakened by this loud clamour of the guns. + + * * + +All the lands are astir. It is not enough that Asia should be humming +like an angry hive and the far islands in arms, Australia sending her +young men and Canada making herself a camp. When we talk over the war +news, we call up ancient names: we debate how Rome stands and what is +the matter with Greece. + + * * + +As for Greece, I have ceased to talk of her. If I wanted to say +anything about Greece I should get down the Poetry Book and quote Lord +Byron's fine old ranting verse. "The mountains look on Marathon--and +Marathon looks on the sea." But "standing on the Persians' grave" +Greece seems in the same humour that made Lord Byron give her up as a +hopelessly flabby country. + + * * + +"'Tis Greece, but living Greece no more" is as true as ever it was. +That last telegram of the Kaiser must have done its soothing work. You +remember how it ran: the Kaiser was too busy to make up new phrases. +He telegraphed to his sister the familiar Potsdam sentence: "Woe to +those who dare to draw the sword against me." I am sure that I have +heard that before. And he added--delightful and significant +postscript!--"My compliments to Tino." + + * * + +And Tino--King Constantine of the Hellenes--understood. He is in bed +now with a very bad cold, and like to stay in bed until the weather be +more settled. But before going to bed he was able to tell a journalist +that Greece was going quietly on with her proper business; it was her +mission to carry civilisation to the world. Truly that was the mission +of ancient Greece. What we get from Tino's modern Greece is not +civilisation but the little black currants for plum-cake. + + * * + +But Rome. Greece may be dead or in the currant trade. Rome is alive +and immortal. Do not talk to me about Signor Giolitti, who is quite +sure that the only things that matter in this new Italy, which is old +Rome, are her commercial relations with Germany. Rome of the legions, +our ancient mistress and conqueror, is alive to-day, and she cannot be +for an ignoble peace. Here in my newspaper is the speech of a poet +spoken in Rome to a shouting crowd: I will cut out the column and put +it in the Poetry Book. + + * * + +He calls to the living and to the dead: "I saw the fire of Vesta, O +Romans, lit yesterday in the great steel works of Liguria, The +fountain of Juturna, O Romans, I saw its water run to temper armour, +to chill the drills that hollow out the bore of guns." This is poetry +of the old Roman sort. I imagine that scene in Rome: the latest poet +of Rome calling upon the Romans in the name of Vesta's holy fire, in +the name of the springs at which the Great Twin Brethren washed their +horses. I still believe in the power and the ancient charm of noble +words. I do not think that Giolitti and the stockbrokers will keep old +Rome off the old roads where the legions went. + + + + + +Postscript + +While this volume was passing through the press, Mr. Ralph Shirley, +the Editor of "The Occult Review" called my attention to an article +that is appearing in the August issue of his magazine, and was kind +enough to let me see the advance proof sheets. + +The article is called "The Angelic Leaders" It is written by Miss +Phyllis Campbell. I have read it with great care. + +Miss Campbell says that she was in France when the war broke out. She +became a nurse, and while she was nursing the wounded she was informed +that an English soldier wanted a "holy picture." She went to the man +and found him to be a Lancashire Fusilier. He said that he was a +Wesleyan Methodist, and asked "for a picture or medal (he didn't care +which) of St. George... because he had seen him on a white horse, +leading the British at Vitry-le-Francois, when the Allies turned" + +This statement was corroborated by a wounded R.F.A. man who was +present. He saw a tall man with yellow hair, in golden armour, on a +white horse, holding his sword up, and his mouth open as if he was +saying, "Come on, boys! I'll put the kybosh on the devils" This figure +was bareheaded--as appeared later from the testimony of other +soldiers--and the R.F.A. man and the Fusilier knew that he was St. +George, because he was exactly like the figure of St. George on the +sovereigns. "Hadn't they seen him with his sword on every 'quid' +they'd ever had?" + +From further evidence it seemed that while the English had seen the +apparition of St. George coming out of a "yellow mist" or "cloud of +light," to the French had been vouchsafed visions of St. Michael the +Archangel and Joan of Arc. Miss Campbell says:-- + + "Everybody has seen them who has fought through from Mons to Ypres; + they all agree on them individually, and have no doubt at all as to + the final issue of their interference" + +Such are the main points of the article as it concerns the great +legend of "The Angels of Mons." I cannot say that the author has +shaken my incredulity--firstly, because the evidence is second-hand. +Miss Campbell is perhaps acquainted with "Pickwick" and I would remind +her of that famous (and golden) ruling of Stareleigh, J.: to the +effect that you mustn't tell us what the soldier said; it's not +evidence. Miss Campbell has offended against this rule, and she has +not only told us what the soldier said, but she has omitted to give us +the soldier's name and address. + +If Miss Campbell proffered herself as a witness at the Old Bailey and +said, "John Doe is undoubtedly guilty. A soldier I met told me that he +had seen the prisoner put his hand into an old gentleman's pocket and +take out a purse"--well, she would find that the stout spirit of Mr. +Justice Stareleigh still survives in our judges. + +The soldier must be produced. Before that is done we are not +technically aware that he exists at all. + +Then there are one or two points in the article itself which puzzle +me. The Fusilier and the R.F.A. man had seen "St, George leading the +British at Vitry-le-Francois, when the Allies turned." Thus the time +of the apparition and the place of the apparition were firmly fixed in +the two soldiers' minds. + +Yet the very next paragraph in the article begins:-- + + "'Where was this ?' I asked. But neither of them could tell" + +This is an odd circumstance. They knew, and yet they did not know; or, +rather, they had forgotten a piece of information that they had +themselves imparted a few seconds before. + +Another point. The soldiers knew that the figure on the horse was St. +George by his exact likeness to the figure of the saint on the English +sovereign. + +This, again, is odd. The apparition was of a bareheaded figure in +golden armour. The St. George of the coinage is naked, except for a +short cape flying from the shoulders, and a helmet. He is not +bareheaded, and has no armour--save the piece on his head. I do not +quite see how the soldiers were so certain as to the identity of the +apparition. + +Lastly, Miss Campbell declares that "everybody" who fought from Mons +to Ypres saw the apparitions. If that be so, it is again odd that +Nobody has come forward to testify at first hand to the most amazing +event of his life. Many men have been back on leave from the front, we +have many wounded in hospital, many soldiers have written letters +home. And they have all combined, this great host, to keep silence as +to the most wonderful of occurrences, the most inspiring assurance, +the surest omen of victory. + +It may be so, but-- + +Arthur Machen. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANGELS OF MONS*** + + +******* This file should be named 14044.txt or 14044.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/4/14044 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/14044.zip b/old/14044.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec75b8f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14044.zip |