A wild thrill of joy ran through me. At last I had found the solution of
the haunting puzzle. Somewhere Else. That was it. Not Scotland, nor
Switzerland, nor Japan. None of the common places of travel. But
Somewhere Else. Wherever I went, I wished I had gone Somewhere Else.
Then, why not go there at first? What was the good of repining when it
was too late? In future, I would make a bee-line for the abode of
Peace--not hesitate and shilly-shally, and then go to Bournemouth, or
Norway, or Ceylon, only to be sorry I had not gone to Somewhere Else
direct. In a flash, all the glories of the discovery crowded upon me--the
gain of time, temper, money, everything. "A thousand thanks, sweet Echo,"
I cried. "My obedience to thy advice shall prove that I am not
ungrateful." Echo, with cynical candour, shouted "Great fool," but I
cannot follow her in her end-of-the-century philosophy. And I have taken
her advice. I went Somewhere Else immediately, and since then I have gone
there every year regularly. My relatives do not care for it, and suggest
all sorts of conventional places, such as Monte Carlo and Southend, but
wherever they go, be it the most beautiful spot on earth, I remain
faithful to my discovery, and go to Somewhere Else, where Peace never
fails to greet me with the special welcome accorded to an annual visitor.
The place grows upon me with every season. Sometimes, I think I should
like to stay on and die there. No other spot in the wide universe has
half such charm for me, and even when I do die, I don't think I shall go
to where all the other happy idlers go. I shall go to Somewhere Else.
For Cromer may be the garden of sleep, but you shall find sleepier
gardens and more papaverous poppies--Somewhere Else. The mountain-pines
of Switzerland may be tall, and the skies of Italy blue, but there are
taller pines and bluer skies--Somewhere Else. The bay of San Francisco
may be beautiful, and the landscapes of Provence lovely, and the crags of
Norway sublime, but Somewhere Else there are fairer visions and scenes
more majestical--
An ampler setter, a diviner air,
And fields invested with purpureal gleams.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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