(_A MUCH MODERNISED VERSION OF "THE VISION OF MIRZAH."_)
On the second day of the week, commonly called Saint Monday (which
according to the Customs of my Forefathers, I always keep as Holiday),
after having washed myself, and offered up my Morning Devotions at the
shrine of Nicotine, I turned over the pages of _Bradshaw_, with a view
to passing the rest of the day in some more or less Rural Retirement.
As I was here confusing myself with the multitudinous Complexities
of this recondite Tome, I fell into a profound Contemplation of the
Vanity of human Holiday-making; and, passing from one puzzling page
to another, Surely, said I, Man is but a Muddler and Life a Maze!
"Right you are!" sounded a mysterious voice in my ear.
The Sound of the voice was exceeding Sweet, and wrought into a
variety of inflections. It put me in mind of those heavenly Airs that
are played from the tops of closely-packed wheeled Vehicles, from
many-keyed Concertinas upon Bank-Holidays. My Heart melted away in
Secret Raptures. By which signs I--who had read my _Spectator_ at the
Free Library--knew well that I was in the company of a Genius! It is
only Genii who drop upon one suddenly and unannounced, with a more or
less pertinent commentary upon one's Inner Thoughts, in this fashion.
I felt at once that I was in for the true Addisonian Oriental Apologue
in all its hybrid incongruity.
I drew near with that Reverence which is due to a Superior--if
nondescript Nature; and as my Heart was entirely subdued by the
captivating Voice I had heard, I fell down at his Feet and wept. I
could hardly have explained why, but 'tis the sort of thing one always
does in an Eastern Apologue. The Genius smiled upon me with a Look of
Compassion and Affability that familiarised him to my Imagination, at
once dispelled all the Fears and Apprehensions with which I approached
him, and turned off my Tearfulness "at the main," as _Samuel Weller_
said, concerning the Mulberry One. He lifted me from the ground, and,
taking me by the hand, "MIRZAH," said he, "I have heard thee in thy
Soliloquies; follow me!"
Now, my name is _not_ MIRZAH, but MATTHEW. Yet, after all, it did not
much matter, and I felt it would be in questionable taste to correct a
Genius.
He then led me to the highest Pinnacle of a Rock, and, placing me on
the Top of it, "Cast thy Eyes yonder," said he, "and tell me what
thou seest." "I see," said I, "a huge Valley, and a prodigious Roadway
running through it." "The Valley that thou seest," said he, "is the
Vale of Travel, and the Roadway that thou beholdest is part of the
great Railway System." "What is the Reason," said I, "that the Roadway
I see rises out of a thick Mist at one End, and again loses itself
in a thick Mist at the other?" "Monopoly and Muddle freely engender
Mists," responded the Genius. "Examine now," said he, "the Roadway
that is bounded with Darkness at both ends, and tell me what thou
discoverest in it." "I see a Bridge," said I, "standing in the midst
of the Roadway." "Consider it attentively," said he.
Upon a more leisurely Survey of it--a Survey which, meseemed, it would
have been well had Others made with similar Attentiveness--I found
that the Arch thereof looked shaky and insecure; moreover, that a
Great and Irregular-shaped Cleft or Crack ran, after the fashion of a
Lightning-flash in a Painted Sea-scape, athwart the structure thereof
from Keystone to Coping. As I was regarding this unpleasing Portent,
the Genius told me that this Bridge was at first of sound and
scientific construction, but that the flight of Years, Wear and Tear,
vehement Molecular Vibration, and, above all, Negligent Supervision,
had resulted in its present Ruinous Condition.
"But tell me further," said he, "what thou discoverest on it."
"I see," said I, "if my eyes and the dark Mists and Shadows deceive me
not, a Figure couched upon the Parapet of the centre Arch thereof."
As I looked more attentively, I saw that this figure was of a Spectral
appearance, and Bony withal; albeit, its contours were to some
extent hidden by its clinging cerement-like garments, and the equally
clinging and charnel-like shades surrounding it.
[Illustration: ON THE BRIDGE!]
Only an Attent, and, as it were, complacently Anticipative Visage, of
an osseous and ogreish Aspect, gleamed lividly forth therefrom, as the
Apparition appeared to Look and Listen through the Mist at one end of
the Bridge for the welcome Sight of Disaster, the much desired Sound
of Doom. A shrill and sibilant Metallic Shriek seemed to cleave the
Shadows into which the Spectre gazed; a Violent Vibratory Pulsation,
as of thudding iron nails threshing upon a resonant steel floor,
seemed to heat the Roadway, shake the Bridge, and as it appeared to
me to widen the levin-like Cleft or Crack which disfigured the Arch
thereof.
Then did I quake inwardly and breathe short. "What, O Genius," I
cried, "signifieth the Spectre, who thus sitteth On the Bridge, what
forebodeth the Aspect of eager Anticipation, and for what doth he so
gloatingly and expectantly Wait?"
"This," responded the Genius, gravely, "is Insatiate Death waiting for
Inevitable Accident!"
I gazed with inexpressible melancholy upon the unhappy Scene. At
length said I, "Show me now, I beseech thee, the Secrets that lie hid
under those dark Mists which cover the regions to the right which you
suggest are the realms of Monopoly and Muddle." The Genius making me
no Answer, I turned about to address myself to him a Second time, but
I found that he had left me. I then turned again to the Vision, but
instead of the Roadway, the arched Bridge and the Attent Anatomy,
I saw nothing but my own parlour, and my wife MARY picking up the
_Bradshaw's Guide_ which had fallen from my sleep-relaxed hand.
* * * * *
On that particular Saint Monday I took, not as I had intended, a
Railway Excursion to Rural Parts, but, telling MARY--to her manifest
concern--that I Had Altered my Mind as regarded our Holiday, I
betook myself to the "Blue Boar" at the corner, and passed the day in
Safety--and Solitary Smoking! Next morning, however, I read something
in the papers which led me to believe that Railwaydom Aroused meant
exorcising and evicting that Sinister Spectre, "regardless of Cost;"
and I shall look forward to my next Holiday Outing with a mind
Relieved and Reassured.
* * * * *