The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-12-25

mcntal processes. All tho faces. figures,
| speeches. and scenes that crowd this semi
them, which stops at n particular point. They
either want the complete identification TINT
wakcfnlness would give them, CT they include
The combination is very singmlar~rar more; more
singular than anything that occurs in actual
dreaming. For ono Is, by fits and starts, con-
scions OF the gross absurdllcs that ure present
to ones mind. In dreaming proper, ono is
never conscious of the extravagancc of The
thing dreamed. 1t Is truo Lhnt u confused
| effort oil consciousness Is sometimes irt I'm
| dreams. Some terrible danger threatens the
dreamer; he Is in q condition OF absolute fear;
nnd then, all mt once, hu says 10 himself
why, what fool am 1t Is only u dream"
And he may remember, after he has nwoke,
| that lc has thus reasoned with himself But
In almost all cases 1t will be found that this bit
of reasoning is only rccollcciive aniitIote
against fear which the dreamer, in anticipa-
tion OF some such frlghtlil dream, had pre-
ylously prepared. As Il matter OF fact he can
not, in n dream, convince himself that he
dreams. He hopes that lie is drcamlng; but
he Is still mortally afraid of tho object that has
assured that he Is dreaming he Invariably
aMakes. Indeed, tho occurrence of the nolon
that he may be dreaming Is only one cfthe
| symptoms OF dawning wakefulncss
But In the pro-sOmnocnt period there Is a
| nobulous consciousness that something Is
wrong, with an indolent disability to set it
| right. Perhaps II Is the picture Of Prague by
derful and expansive mist which lies imme-
dlately within the" human eycllds. We arc
standing mp on the massive Pradschin. with
the pale white castles beside us, with the great
dark city sleeping down there on the plain,
and with the broad Moldau lying Under the
| lsmbent moonlight. There is the bridge we
know. The gas lamps by the river side gim-
mcr down into the wnter. There, too, are the
Soften and Scbfltzen iscs, dark mass In the
middle of the stream But why is It that, lust
beyond the islands, ut the bend of the spacious
river, we hazily sec the gray Tower OF LON
don The bridge down there is adorned with
big statues; 1t has massive gateways on the
city side; it clearly cannot be London bridge.
And yet the Tower Is there; md If we fix our
stream will melt away and give place to hud-
died masses OF shipping; tho banks will de-
velop whurfs; handsome cabs will begin 10
TO drive across the bridge In the direction of
the borough; policemen will quarrel with
drunken women on the pavement, under the
cold moonlight, with proflse use OF Billings
gate, until We suddenly become arwarc Of the
absurdlty of fancyIng that such things could
which Nina Balatka loved the Jew.
| Not less singular are the minute points of
detail In which tho dozer loses Ills own identi-
ty. He will be involuntarily recalling con-
crsalion he has had during the day with some
one-following the successive remarks, rs he
imagines, with sufficient accuracy and acci
dcntally discover that he is talking TO this
person, not us he did talk, but rs he imagined
during the afternoon that u friend Of his would
have talked under the circumstances Of
course, these freaks are more marked when
| some time has elapsed since the occurrences
with which they deal happened. Since imagi-
nationls only memory kept for few years in
bottle, It follows that memory. the older It
grows, is tho more likely to play tricks with
| facts In the way Of combining what might
have been with what has been. Men delight
| TO look back upon important events In their
| lives and imagine new versions OF them.
| This amusement, which is universal, has
! Il
tillation OF the fancy. Tho clear lines of
fact become blurred, Indefinite, elastic, so
that they include good deal Of cr post Jiicto
speculation. Let us say, TINT o man has
been Tilted In his yonth-a circumstance
that seemed to him sufficiently tragic ut
the time. Years Afterwards there are few
things which Interest him so much as to look
back and calculate, with the uid of accumu-
| lated experience, what would have been the
result had lie not been jiltcd-had lie married
| the young woman who Is now sober matrOn.
| rlcs of conduct which might have happened.
| He explains occurrences this way or that way,
| Us his fancy or mood inclines. Suppose the
barc fncts to be that he was absent from the
young person to whom he was engaged; that
| she In al innocent way formed nn intimacy
with somebody else; that her absent lover
heard Off nnd. without the least Inquiry into
the matter, broke off the engagement; that
she, bitterly wounded and hurt, refused to re-
| ply TO him, and subsequently, married the
third person who had partly caused the trouble.
Now, In actual DIRE inning no .nciion is taken OIL
dreams that he has married his Old love, Tint
he Is walking about with her In beautiful val
lcys, with perpetual bloom of youth on her
facc He wakes up in the morning only 10
thank goodness, perhaps, that he is not MAJ;
rlcd to her But on tho borders Of dream
with Important notifications.
II Is clear that In the facts we have mention
cd dozen different explanations might be
procurabc. All these the disappointed lover
mi
quite clear as to the particular version he
ought to believe. And now the face OF that
tender friend of his appears through the haze
look in the oycs. which has also in Il some
thing OF reproscl. lie begins to think ~hc
must havc cruelty wronged her. he goes
back TO the old times, and reviews all the old
scenes and Incidents and faces, and 10 the
figure OF the third person has dropped out of
the picture. He forgets entirely that there
WAS young lieutenant concerned In the
affair. He is amazed ut his own hardness of
heart, and resolves to repair the wrong done
10 this girl with the sad and beautiful eyes.
lie Will go Tomorrow morning and beg
her forgiveness. How pleasant II will be
Is coming in, he thinks of Hastings, and ram
bies along the shore, and happy marriage
IL Is not so long ago since the terrible misfor-
tune and mlsapprehension occurred lie will
go at once and make 1t up with her. All this
he thinks without being actually as,e.p. But
should some cat on his garden wall begin to
howl, the young lieutenant suddenly Jumps
Into the picture again, bringing with him all the
long lapse of years, children, and residence In
lorcign country. The disappointed and doZIng
lover grOwls dissatisfaction ut his own sIupid.
ity, and wonders how he could have been such
1901 as 10 thin OF going tomorrow TO make
1t up with his old love, when that respectable
lady Is MAJORS wife, and lives In Bhawalpuor.
RATS "ASTRAL" OIL.