208 EARLY REMINISCENCES Many miraculous stories are told of this establishment. It happened that a young lady in the neighbourhood of Bayonne asserted that she received frequent visits from the Blessed Virgin. Her parents advised her to make a retreat at the Refuge, and place herself under the direction of the Abbe Cestac. They had been wiser if, after each visit reported, they had made her swallow a couple of podophyllin pills. She did as advised, and on the third day announce that Our Lady had appeared to her and had informed her that she was highly pleased with the work of the Abbe. The Pere Cestac had not, happily, quite lost common sense, and he sent for Mile de M-, and read to her out of a book by Benedict XIV on true and false visions. The young lady, finding that she was not at once believed, uttered a scream, pulled her director's silver watch out of his pocket, threw it on the floor and herself rolled on the ground. It is added that the works of the watch were scattered right and left. The Abbe picked up his watch and found that, miraculously, it continued to tick, and was uninjured. The young lady retired, and had no more celestial visits. Now, is it not obvious that the paragraph relative to the works being scattered over the floor is an addition made to the matter-of-fact story that although Mile de M-did pull out and throw away the watch, it was not damaged ? Probably because it fell on a mat. As a story travels it gets altered, and exaggerations attach themselves to it. And when, in its improved form it gets into print, it is fixed for ever. It would be well to remember the story of the Seven Black Crows. Mrs. Smith confided to her neighbour Mrs. Brown, who was hard of hearing, that during the previous night dear Mr. Smith had vomited matter as black as a crow. " Lord bless me ! " exclaimed Mrs. Brown with uplifted hands. " You don't mean to say so ? " " It is a fact. I can take my Bible oath on it," replied Mrs. Smith. Off posted Mrs. Brown to her friend the venerable spinster, Arabella Jones, to inform her that last night the poor dear Mr. Smith had thrown up a black crow. She had the news on the best
