12 S. III. MARCH 24, 1917.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
227
<cures, gives the following account of what he
saw : ' The Zouave admits no one to his pres-
ence who is not really afflicted with disease or
infirmity, those who are led to the Rue de la
Roquette by curiosity being compelled to re-
main hi the waiting-room. Fortunately I was
burnished with a letter from his best friend, and
became privileged at once. I entered the room
-with twenty of the most ragged and dirty of the
whole mob, and am thus enabled to describe
'the scene. The Zouave was standing as if in a
reverie when we entered pell-mell into the long,
"low apartment where the cures were performed.
He was leaning against the wall, with his eyes
half open, after the fashion of somnambula
before entering completely into trance, the only
difference being in the intense light shot out
<rom the living orbs beneath the drooping eye-
lids. He neither spoke nor moved, while his
iather busied himself in arranging the visitors
upon the low wooden benches before him. Every
crutch and stick was taken from the infirm
patients and placed in the comer behind the
door, amid the timid whines of the poor frightened
creatures, accustomed to look upon the help
afforded by these objects as absolutely necessary
"to their safety. When all were seated thus,
leaning the one against the other, the father,
going close up to the son, whispered in his ear.
He was aroused in a moment, adn coming for-
ward with a movement brusque and hurried,
.savouring of the military camp and not in the
least of the solemnity of the magician's sanc-
tuary, he walked up and down for a few minutes
before the eager line of sufferers. To each he
"told the disea.se under which he or she was suffer-
ing, and the original cause of the malady ; and
as no objection was made in any one case, I am
led to suppose him to have been right in all.
Presently, however, I observed him to stop
suddenly, and fix his eye upon one of the patients
-who sat" at the extreme end of the second bench,
- and, after examining him for a moment, turn
-aside with a slight shudder, which I observed was neither of disgust nor dread, but a kind of involuntary recoil. He said abruptly, pointing with his forefinger straight into the face of the individual he addressed, " I can do nothing for your disease ; it is beyond my power ; go, and /remember it is useless to return. This was all ; but the words acted upon the man like a magic Bpell. He shook from head to foot, like the aspen-leaf, and tried to gasp out a few words, but whether of prayer or expostulation it is impossible to say ; for his tongue seemed para- lysed, and clung to the roof of his mouth, while the Zouave turned aside with an indescribable expression of fear, certainly indicative of a kind of intimidation. But this was soon shaken off, -and he again passed before the line, uttering simply the words, " Rise and walk." The sound which simultaneously burst from the assembly could find no fitting description in any language. It was a sort of moaning whine, a kind of infantile wailing, evidently produced by fear and doubt. One feeble old beggar-woman, whose head had stopped its palsied shaking from the moment the Zouave Jacob had fixed his glittering eye upon her, was the one who gave expression to the feeling which had evidently taken possession
- them all. " Oh ! how can I move without
my crutches ? " and, having turned a yearning look towards the corner where these old friends
and supporters were standing, with a host of
others, she began to mumble or moan most
piteously. But the Zouave looked for an instant
down the line, with an ominous frown on his
brow, as he found that not one of the patients
had obeyed his orders. No pretension to the
sacred character of a prophet, or inspired seer,
was there, for he stamped with such rude violence
on the floor that the casement shook again. He
almost uttered an oath, but it was unfinished,
as he once more uttered the command to rise
and walk, so that others might be admitted in
their place. Then came the most strange and
mysterious moment of the whole ceremony.
One by one did every individual seated upon
those low wooden benches rise and stand erect.
No words can describe the singular spectacle
offered by this fearing, hoping, doubting crowd,
as each one found himself standing firm upon
the legs which for years had ceased to do -their
office. Some laughed like foolish children,
some remained wrapped in stolid wonder, while
many burst into the most heartrending paroxysm
of weeping. It was then that the Zouave
stretched forth his arm and bade them pause.
All was hushed and silent for a moment. The
pause lasted for some tune. I have been told
that it is always so, but have not been able to
account for its necessity ; and then the door was
thrown open, and the crippled and the paralysed,
the halt and lame of the hour before, walked from
that long, low, half - darkened chamber, with
somewhat timid gait, it may be, but with
straightened limbs and measured steps, as though
no ailment had ever reached them. One or two
amongst the number turned to thank their
deliverer, but the Zouave dismissed them bru-
tally. "Be off; don't stand shilly-shally. You
are cured, ain't you ? That's enough now
' pietiez-moi le camp ! " In plain English,
" Cut your stick, and be gone." Before leaving
the room I turned to look at the single patient
whose case Jacob had pronounced as being be-
yond his power to cure. The man was paralysed
in both arms and his neck twisted all awry. It
certainly was a hang-dog countenance worse
than any I had ever beheld and the expression
of rage, and hate, and fear, which it conveyed
was unmistakable. His feet were paralysed
likewise, and turned outwards. The Zouave's
father searched among the sticks and articles
left in the corner for those which belonged to the
only cripple destined to remain so, and, as he
touched each one, looked with inquiring glance
towards the unhappy wretch, who answered
with an awkward jerk of his wry neck, until he
seized upon a sort of wooden shelf or go-cart upon
wheels, which the cripple had been used to push
before him. A boy came in to help him from
his seat, and as he disappeared, supported by this
aid, he uttered a poignant groan, which resounded
through the place with the most weird and
terrible effect imaginable.' "
Similar miraculous claims and inexplic- able cures are associated with St. Winifred's Well at Holywell, Flintshire, the waters of which ceased to flow on January 5 of this year in consequence of the supply being interfered with in the carrying-on of certain works in a local lead-mine.
ISRAEL SOLOMONS.