Beyond human control

Welsh revival shows the limits of programs and the limitless Spirit | Andrée Seu

The strange doings of canaries and coalmines are not to be compared to those of tram-harnessed, blind horses in those ore-veined hills of Wales from 1904 to 1906. It was a scene like Babel, but between man and equus rather than man and man. To put it delicately, miners suddenly stopped talking like miners. And their horses, no longer able to understand the colliers' commands, lowered their ears and dug in their hooves. Coal production fell off around the country.

That's not all. Businesses went into foreclosure—pubs and taverns, to be precise. Emergency meetings of local councils were called to discuss what was to be done with the police force since the police had so little to do. Nightly prayer meetings multiplied like spores from Amlwch to Llanerchymedd to Disgwylfa.