The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1829-06-17
SLEEP WALKING.

nambulism recently occurred in Middle Had
dam, Comm The writer of the article states
that the facts can be suDstantiated by the most
unequivocal evidence.
A boy living in this village about I3 wears
of age, who is accustomed to walk and con-
verse in his sleep, fell asleep in his chair
| the fore part of the evening. In a short
time he began to talk and called upon a
! boy who was not present, and said, "come
let US 60 to school," There were two
young men present, who accompanied him
to the school, one of whom responded to the
name, and acted the part, of the absent boy.
On arriving at the school house where the
instructor happened to be, he went in, took
off his hat, and took his seat, with all the
! proprlety and decorum that he would have
observed at any time. He said in low
| tone OF voice, " | must go to studying" and
Immediately got his slate and book. He
turned to the place in Arithmetic where he
had been cyphering. This was the 10th
problem in tho Rule of Three, in Daboll's
Arithmetic, on which he had studied the
preceding day without being able to solve.
The instructor came to him and asked him
If he could not get the answer. He replied
in the negative. He then read the ques-
ton, and the teacher told him how to state
1t. He made the statement, and then said
lie could not bling the pounds, shillings,
&C., to dollars. Being told how to do it, he
proceeded according to the directions and
brought out the true answer. The teacher
then sent him to the blackboard in order
to drill him in the general rules of arithme-
tic. He was told to find the sum of 8, ~,
Go, and 26, which he did correctly. He
was examined in all the rules from Addi-
ton to the Rule Of Three, and to the as
tonshment of all present, gave as ready and
correct answers as if he had been perfectly
awake. After sitting some time he asked
permission to 60 home, which was not grant
ed. Upon this, the teacher withdrew to
another part of the room, for the purpose of
observing the issue Of this interesting scene.
1t seems that former teacher had had a
difficulty with the boy and had corrected
him. This correction the boy had not for
gotten. For the sake of an experiment one
! of the young men who attended him, assum-
ed the name of this teacher, the other that
of a scholar. The pretended scholar sug-
gested to the boy the idea of avenging the
punishment he had formerly received by
burning up the rods with which he had been
chastised. He searched the room until he
found the sticks which the present teacher
kept for the correction Of his scholars !;
broke and burned them, with all the exul-
tation he would have manifested had the
whole been reality. For this conduct he
was arraigned by the fictitious master for
having destroyed his rods. He charged
him with the deed, but he denied 1t with
persevering obstinacy. But it was proved
by the testimony of the fictitious scholar.
AptieinR99&defr I 8F,HYn,Slhment, and not wait:
to writhe his body, and to cringe under the
imaginary strokes of the whip, just as II il
had been Il matter of fact. Thinking to
retaliate this supposed fagellaton, he pro-
posed to the other scholars to assist him IN
turning out of the house the pretended IN
structer. He complied, and the somnambu-
list exerted himself with all his vlgor IN
putting him out. During all this time his
ewes were closed, his breathing was hard,
and he appeared every way like person
asleep. The next morning he was told OF
what had taken place, and was perfectly
astonished. He had no recollection OF any
thing since he had fallen asleep in his chair,
and was so mortified at what he had done
in the presence of his instructor, that he
could hardly be prevailed upon to attend
school. Thus only one among many OF the
singular instances that have occurred IN the
history of this lad. He has been known to
get up in the night, saddle horse, ride at
Some distance, andreturn to 5edag with
out being concious of what he had done;
When in this situation it seems difficult, II
not impossible, to awaken him. Every mode
of shaking and roughly handling has been
tried 10 bring him TO state of conscious
ness, but all in vain. The way adopted by
his friends is 20 let him go on, as long as ne
pleases, after which he goes back to bed,
and in about quarter of an hour voluntarily
awakes.-.Niddleto,pn Gazette.
AN AFFECTING STORY. Bishop Heller