Posted by Tom Napier on December 06, 2013 at 11:30:33 user Didymus.
In Reply to: Re: AR taught me to sail posted by Peter Ceresole on December 06, 2013 at 10:55:32:
"AR never came down hard on the side of science in connection with Titty's dowsing"
A year or two ago I looked through the dowsing section of PP with just this in mind. I concluded that AR had written the episode very carefully to avoid offending either side. He makes it clear that, whatever Titty's beliefs, she could really have been following physical clues to the water such as the presence of the rushes.
He also avoids endorsing "magic" in describing Titty's other encounter with woo-woo, her making of a voodoo doll of the GA. He has Mrs Walker make it clear that this could have had no physical effect.