Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/149

 MENTAL TELEGRAPHY

a good deal. You will see what I mean when I get down to it. Ever since the English Society for Psychical Research began its investigations of ghost stories, haunted houses, and apparitions of the living and the dead, I have read their pamphlets with avidity as fast as they arrived. Now one of their commonest inquiries of a dreamer or a vision-seer is, &quot;Are you sure you were awake at the time?&quot; If the man can t say he is sure he was awake, a doubt falls upon his tale right there. But if he is positive he was awake, and offers reasonable evi dence to substantiate it, the fact counts largely for the credibility of his story. It does with the society, and it did with me until that lady asked me the above question the other day.

The question set me to considering, and brought me to the conclusion that you can be asleep at least, wholly unconscious for a time, and not sus pect that it has happened, and not have any way to prove that it has happened. A memorable case was in my mind. About a year ago I was standing on the porch one day, when I saw a man coming up the walk. He was a stranger, and I hoped he would ring and carry his business into the house without stopping to argue with me; he w r ould have to pass the front door to get to me, and I hoped he wouldn t take the trouble; to help, I tried to look like a stranger myself it often works. I was look ing straight at that man; he had got to within ten feet of the door and within twenty-five feet of me and suddenly he disappeared. It was as astounding as if a church should vanish from before your face 10 i

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