The Republican journal., 1873-08-07
The Wonderful Dream.

dertul dream. I'll tell you about it
You remember, some Of YOU, about the
great land speculation here in Maine thirty
years ago. Poor men--a very few of them
We're made suddenly rich; and rich men
were made suddenly poor. was living
then in Grey. One day old Sam Whitney
of Oxford stopped at our place, and
showed us map a new town which had
been laid out in Sagadahoc On the map
it looked bsauttul There were brooks.
and lakes and broad plains of pine and
oak, and streets all laid out and spots for
churches and sch .oI houses marked out in
proper array | had Il cousin living down
that way, and concluded to q. down and
take n hook | found the town of Ellen
Vile, which old Whitney had shown m,.
on his map, to be a wild, worthless tract
All rocks and swamp but on the rl"r ot
this tract IN another township my coI'Sin
owned :: piece of good land and bought
il hunitei ami HiIN acres OF ii, and mad"
ne AN excellent farm; and for that pul-
chase | was never sorry.
Meanwhile Ellenville Wa nearly all sold
in hundred acre lots The excitement wa
at fever heat, and people bought without
once coming to look II the land they were
purchasing But by and by the new own
rre began to look up their property and
Non can rest assured that they We're "A blue
st when they We're assembled on that
territory Within all the limits of liz,
mappcd-out township there Was not an
acre that could be cultiN ntru ON the ~i,l,.
that h"rdcred my farm it was 4 rragnN
ledge of rocks; and beyond that to the
4 81,
and water of a sunkrn slough Some
Of these lot, had been sold as high Is one
pound an acre. and a few of them Went
even higher than that One poor fellow
named John Twist, from Vermont had
pald one pound IN acre tur Il lot. that bor-
.lertd ON my farm. On the map it had
been set down rs 4 magnificent pine for
est. with II river upon its borders, upon
which was a superb waterpower. john
Twist bought it and paid for it, and when
he came to look at it he found it 10 be Il
mass of barren rocks With h"r" and there
4 clnmp of shrub oaks and a few Norway
pines and for Il river he found Il water
course which tumbled melted snow over
the crags in the spring, and which was
dry most of the Year | did not see the
poor fellow when he came to survey his
property but | can imagine how he fell
After awhile, however, the excitement
passed on. and the sufferers of Ellrn>ilit
turned their backs upon the graves Of theit
speculative hopes On my farm | pros
prred My land was of the very best
quality my wife was Il true hrlpmate; my
crops We're abundant my stock thrivrd
and | found myself with Il Goodly pile OF
money tied up in my stocking
One evening after our crops had been
garnereu "A man riding SorrN looking NAG
pulled up before the door. lie was Il well
looking man, with Il >edate and solemn
face and dressed in black 1t was sal,
enough to conclude that the man was a
minister and SO he announced himself,
lie said he was the Rev Paul Merkmorc
he was 4 missionary, on :: home circuit.
and asked shelter for himself and beast
for the night. OF course we Welcomed
him cheertullN, and We're pleased with
him He had travelled extensively anJ
his conversation WAS entertaining and m
,tructiNr. Before he went to he'd ne rra0
a chapter in the Bible and made PRAYER
and BttsrN said to me after he had rrtirr'
prayer in her life
The neAt morning, AT the breakfast table,
Mr. Mctkm Wa> very >rtiair. tie asked
Il blessing. and then only answered Nlt"1
questions a. We asked him Finally my
wife told him she was afraid hr hti aut
Slept wen lie smiled and said III. hto
Sltp very we'll, >;lNing the spell OF 4 very
curious dream which had visited him thrr,
separate times during the night. Brts,l
asked him if he would tell what ii Wt>
about
lit was the old dream Of hidden wealth.
he SAID. with Il solemn look II haven
dreamed such i dream before, since lN !:
wonderful dream IN South Africa wa hu
to the discovery of a diamond mime Worif
millions Of dollars, and ii never pr"itt~
me a cent But such wealth is not for mr
need it not My rallin" hath higher IN,
holirr aims And Vet this poor flesh i,
sometimes weak enough 10 lust after TIL,
dro~s Of gold and silver
HN degrees we @nt from him that he ha'
dreamed Of Il silver mine among tbs rra@,
of um. hills This mine seemed to hi~
vision to be utterly rNhaustle>s in iii,
precious metal. But he could not locate
ii BetscN, whose curiosity wa, aroused
would have pushed the matter, but Mr.
Meek more FINALLY shook his head NOR,
solenmly than ever, and SAID that h'
would rather forget the dream if he could
When the missionary : horse was at tho
door. and the owner was prepared lU starr
OF, he informed lis that he was bound lu
ward the Canada line, and thai he might
return that way. or course we told him
that our door would be always open t'
him; and he promised that he would ahi'l'
with us again if he had the opportunity.
In two weeks Mr. Mrckmorr came back
lie had received a summons, he SAID, IRON
the home board to return to Boston an,
make Immediate preparation for A Mintrl
campaign in the west.
The second evening in the society of tn,
reverend gentleman we enjoyed more than
W.. rnluycd the first Iii, fund Of anre
dotr and adventure was literally exhaust
less and Vet an odor Of sancttN and deli
carv pervaded all his speech We urgr'
that he should 50 ,nd Il few days with ~
hin Great pleasure to d" SO. but hi@ cal
to the m,W field Of labor III the west VA
pressing and Imperative.
On the ntAt morning, al the hrrlkia~
table. our .rucSt Wa even more ~rlatr an,
lnbUn1lIlUl lntll OR tHt prev t'lN t''.t'l'ii
and when questioned on the matter told n
that he had been visited bv the same dream
again.
This time, he said 'thc vision cam,
with wonderful distinctne@,. | not onl'
brheld the vast chambers of virgin silver
but saw an excellent profile of the over
lln" territory. 1t was Il wild, des"lat'
spot, by deep ra>inr, through which TIN
SHOWS of winter seem to find release il
spring, rushing down Il craggy hillside +
a dark, wide stretching swamp below. I'm
would not impress me so seriously Wer"
not that once before Il dream of the same
import proved IL startling reality
We convcrscd further on the subject, am
after breakfast Mr.. Merknore took pen
ell, and upon the blank leaf Of an old at
las he drew picture of the spot he ha'
seen in his dream, and he pointed on
where, beneath the roots Of IN old STUN
py pine tree, he had seen outcroppn%S o
the precious metal.
lie had drawn the picture, he told us, t.
show how vivid his dream had been bu
| he advised us to think no more of ii. Eye
if it We're possible that the dream had s!'l
stance, the body of the mine was far be
! low the surface and. moreover the Lord