| <trailer><p> <Westralian Worker,> <23 March 1917,>  
| <pb n="5"> </p></trailer>
| <headline><p> <OUR BOOKSHELF Witches and Were-Wolves>
| </p></headline>
| <p> A week or two ago "Vigilant" was under the painful 
| necessity of referring to the statesmen of Europe as a 
| pack of were-wolves. Unfortunately the typo, 
| (Beelzebub pursue him), set it up as "war wolves", 
| which goes to show that his education in unnatural 
| history has been sadly neglected. </p>
| <p> A were wolf is a man or woman who has, by means of 
| dealings with agents of the Prince of Darkness, 
| acquired the privilege of changing himself into a wolf 
| by night. Sometimes the change is effected as a result 
| of a spell cast upon the victim by a witch. In that 
| case the unfortunate resumes his human form after 
| seven years but only on condition that, while in 
| animal shape, he does not take human blood. The proper 
| course to pursue, should one be attacked by a were-wolf,
| is to shoot it with a silver bullet; mere lead 
| is useless. The injury thus effected will be borne by 
| the evil being in its human form, and thus its 
| identity can be discovered. Were-wolves are positively 
| known to infest every corner of the earth, despite the 
| denials of sceptical people. The wretched creatures 
| have frequently been brought to justice, and convicted 
| on the most unimpeachable evidence. Indeed, were 
| anyone bold enough to speak the least word in favor of 
| the suspect, that alone would condemn the witness as a 
| warlock or witch. </p>
| <p> Of course, the more orthodox witches are far more 
| mischievous than even the terrible were-wolf. Their 
| tearful misdeeds form the basis of many of the stories 
| of W. H. Ainsworth, and particularly of his  
| <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo"> "Lancashire 
| Witches." </title> The scene is laid in Lancashire, at 
| the time of James I, a monarch who was thoroughly 
| imbued with a wholesome sense of the duty of temporal 
| rulers with regard to the extermination of witches. 
| Not only the king, but his advisers, and the whole 
| country, including the administrators of justice, are 
| represented by the author as firmly believing, on the 
| frailest evidence, the black charges brought against a 
| handful of wretched old women. One old dame is accused 
| of afflicting the whole population, human and brute, 
| of a village with a dreadful plague. Another was 
| alleged to have caused the removal of certain 
| <q> </q> on an estate. As 
| the marks, etc, included a river, a forest, and a 
| gigantic granite mountain, the enormity of the lady's 
| offence can be realised. The tale is told in a matter 
| of fact style which impresses one deeply with the 
| 'depth' of the convictions of the people of Europe, 
| until very recent times, upon these subjects. In fact, 
| an elderly lady of this writer's acquaintance informs 
| him that the belief was still unshaken in her youth, 
| which was spent in Lancashire. Even the very tales 
| that Ainsworth tells were implicitly believed at as 
| late a period as 1870, by, probably, the majority of 
| the population. </p>
| <p> Apart from writers of tales to amuse (such as 
| Ainsworth), the literature of magic includes some more 
| serious efforts. The classic upon the subject is, of 
| course, Fraser's <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo">
| "Golden Bough" </title>, but this enormous work, 
| which is in fact, an encyclopedia of magic and 
| religion is, unfortunately, beyond the purses of most 
| of us. It consists of several large volumes and sets 
| out to inform the reader of the notions of magical 
| rites, and the religious ideas and ceremonies of 
| ancient and modern times. </p>
| <p> The quality of the information may be guessed at 
| when it is stated that the author received the honor 
| of knighthood in token of his services to the cause of 
| enlightenment.</p>
| <p>But another work ~~ a veritable masterpiece in its 
| way - is Mark Twain's <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo">
| "Joan of Arc." </title> No doubt many of us have 
| laughed at Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, especially 
| at their naive notions about ghosts and magic. But in 
| <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo"> "Joan of 
| Arc" <title> the kindly Mark Twain more often plays 
| upon emotions likely rather to be expressed in tears 
| than in laughter. He paints beautiful pictures of Joan 
| and her young companions playing round the fairy tree 
| <mdash>-</mdash> of Joan's belief in fairies 
| <mdash>-</mdash> of her defence of them to the kindly Cure, 
| who declares that they are wicked little imps 
| <mdash>-</mdash> and of her eventual conviction for 
| witchcraft, partly on account of this same childish 
| belief. His reconstruction of the trial of Joan, when 
| the poor child outwitted the quibblings of the 
| shrewdest lawyers of Rouen and Paris, shows Mark Twain 
| at his very best. This book should be far better known 
| that it is, for despite his rare gift of humor, Samuel 
| Clemens (to call the author by his true name) had a 
| message to deliver, which glimmers through his less 
| serious works, but was only definitely stated in 
| <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo"> "What is 
| Man?" </title> an essay, in dialogue form, published 
| after his death. Its resemblance to Blatchford's 
| <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo"> "Not Guilty ~~ a 
| Defence of the Bottom Dog," </title> is generally 
| remarked. </p>
| <p> Delving thus into the superstitions of the past has 
| more than a recreative purpose. At least one lesson to 
| be learned is the value of toleration of the views of 
| others. When we realise that the brightest intellects 
| of the Middle Age firmly believed in witchcraft 
| <mdash>-</mdash> even including religious innovators 
| like Luther and Calvin, who might reasonably be 
| expected to have thought sufficiently to escape from 
| such gross absurdities, we can understand the fearful 
| toll of innocent blood that was shed in religious wars 
| and persecutions. In connection with the belief in 
| witchcraft alone it has been estimated that no less 
| than ten million persons were burned alive during the 
| Dark Ages and indeed, even as late as the threshold of 
| the Nineteenth Century. </p>
| <p> Fortunately we live today in a happier world but it 
| cannot be said that we have completely shaken off the 
| curse of intolerance as recent happenings in Perth 
| bear ample witness. That alone should justify the 
| writer in following the example of Luther, who 
| declared that he once flung his inkpot at the 
| devil. </p>