JOAN OF ARC.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9460, 1 June 1909, Page 7

JOAN OF ARC.

ALLEGED APPARITIONS. Jeanne d*Aro is appearing to a HitHe girl ten years oi age, and '■dwelling at Orrony. So at least the child says, as there nat J r^ ly been no witness of i she P^isiea respondent of the Petit Mansion interested in this strange tale has been to the place to see the small maiden; and he describes her a pretcy, intelligent child, utterly free from any sort of training which •might infuse weird fancies into her lender brain. This is her story: —One day in July she was looking after a goat in a field near her grandparents’ dwelling when .suddenly"she beheld a flash in an old elm tree, on a branch of which a human form was perched, as she noticed when, the light h . ad d away, and off she ran in panic to the E It was only when she had been pressed with quesllons th at she related her adventure, to the great amusement of the old people, who laughed at her story. When, about a week afterwards, she plucked up courage to return to the spot, she jgaw the strange figure again, an experience which has been repeated ;any number of times. , ~ “ When I first saw the dame, .she told the Writer, ?‘I was in a -terrible fright, and my heart heats violently whenever I see her again. “Does the ‘dame’ speak to you. he asked. “Yes, monsieur. This is what she told me last year during her second apparition: ‘Sozanue, a ;great war is coming, to be followed •by cholera, yellow fever, black fever .and infections flies. Rome, Messina and all that neighbourhood will be .•swallowed up., Suzanne, I order you to go and bless the French flag and the weapons of war. ’ “That is all she says to you? “Yes, sir; she often repeats it. X Xhave seen her fifteen times since |the beginning of the yean’’ “Have yon questioned the ladyr —“Yes, I have asked her, ‘Who are you?’ and she has answered, ‘I am .Jeanne d’Aro, martyr.’ She goes away after five minutes in a flash, as she comes. It is generally a^out half-past three in the afternoon that 1 gee her.” 1 , ‘ ‘ And how is Jeanne d Arc dressed ? “She is in armour resembling lead^ Her hair is parted in the middle, and falls on her shoulders. In her 'hand she holds a sword, with the point in the air, and a crown which ooks as if it was made of the teeth of a saw, and a branch of laurel." “And she never speaks to yon cahont anything else?”—“Yes; but I have not understood. ” “What is her voice like?’’ was the final question.— “ Like that of children, shrill,’' replied the girl. “One would.say that she sings. The writer visited the elm, hut only saw perched on the famous branch a little bird, which seemed to look mockingly at him. He adds ■that little Suzanne is quite natural, and like other children, and that she describes her experiences in the simplest and most nnaffeoted style. But he reminds his readers that it ■was in chat district that the Maid of Orleans was captured, and that the conn cry people still retain all sorts of traditions about her, and are more •or less familiar with old f printa in which she is portrayed. From this to some freak of fancy the step would not be so very far. And this is the'practical explanation accepted ©yen in that rural region.