No. 85.—From the REV. C. H. JUPP, Warden.
"In 1875 a man died leaving a widow and six orphan children. The three eldest were admitted into the Orphanage. Three years afterwards the widow died, and friends succeeded in getting funds to send the rest here, the youngest being about four years of age. [Late one evening, about six months after the admission of the younger children, some visitors arrived unexpectedly; and] the Warden agreed to take a bed in the little ones' dormitory, which contained ten beds, nine occupied.
"In the morning, at breakfast, the Warden made the following statement:—'As near as I can tell I fell asleep about eleven o'clock, and slept very soundly for some time. I suddenly woke without any apparent reason, and felt an impulse to turn round, my face being towards the wall, from the children. Before turning, I looked up and saw a soft light in the room. The gas was burning low in the hall, and the dormitory door being open, I thought it probable that the light came from that source. It was soon evident, however, that such was not the case. I turned round, and then a wonderful vision met my gaze. Over the second bed from mine, and on the same side of the room, there was floating a small cloud of light, forming a halo of the brightness of the moon on an ordinary moonlight night.
"'I sat upright in bed, looking at this strange appearance, took up my watch and found the hands pointing to five minutes to one. Everything was quiet, and all the children sleeping soundly. In the bed, over which the light seemed to float, slept the youngest of the six children mentioned above.
"'I asked myself, "Am I dreaming?" No! I was wide awake. I was seized with a strong impulse to rise and touch the substance, or whatever it might be (for it was about five feet high), and was getting up when something seemed to hold me back. I am certain I heard nothing, yet I felt and perfectly understood the words—"No, lie down it won't hurt you." I at once did what I felt I was told to do. I fell asleep shortly afterwards and rose at half-past five, that being my usual time.
"'At six o'clock I began dressing the children, beginning at the bed furthest from the one in which I slept. Presently I came to the bed over which I had seen the light hovering. I took the little boy out, placed him on my knee, and put on some of his clothes. The child had been talking with the others; suddenly he was silent. And then, looking me hard in the face with an extraordinary expression, he said, "Oh, Mr. Jupp, my mother came to me last night. Did you see her?" For a moment I could not answer the child. I then thought it better to pass it off, and said, "Come, we must make haste, or we shall be late for breakfast."'
"The child never afterwards referred to the matter, we are told, nor has it since ever been mentioned to him. The Warden says it is a mystery to him; he simply states the fact and there leaves the matter, being perfectly satisfied that he was mistaken in no one particular."
In answer to inquiries, the Rev. C. Jupp writes to us:—
"THE ORPHANAGE AND CONVALESCENT HOME,
ABERLOUR, CRAIGELLACHIE,
November 13th, 1883.
"I fear anything the little boy might now say would be unreliable, or I would at once question him. Although the matter was fully discussed at the time, it was never mentioned in the hearing of the child; and yet when, at the request of friends, the account was published in our little magazine, and the child read it, his countenance changed, and looking up, he said, 'Mr. Jupp, that is me.' I said, 'Yes, that is what we saw.' He said, 'Yes,' and then seemed to fall into deep thought, evidently with pleasant remembrances, for he smiled so sweetly to himself, and seemed to forget I was present.
"I much regret now that I did not learn something from the child at the time.
"CHAS. JUPP."
In answer to inquiries, Mr. Jupp says that he has never had any other hallucination of the senses; and adds:—
"My wife was the only person of adult age to whom I mentioned the circumstance at the time. Shortly after, I mentioned it to our Bishop and Primus."
Mrs. Jupp writes, from the Orphanage, on June 23, 1886:—
"This is to certify that the account of the light seen by the Warden of this establishment is correct, and was mentioned to me at the time"—i.e., next morning.