The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-08-30
DREAMING.
The Cecil Wing

For The Cecil Wing.
DREAMING.
Dreaming is subject which enters the
minds of all thinking people. 1t is one
which the school boy grapples with, and it
is one which puzzles the brain of the learn
ed philosopher.
"Dreaming is a state Of mind in which
a part of its functions are suspended. ~
Sleep composes the mind to rest, but this
rest is not always perfect, for when it is
perfect, or when we are in a profound sleep
we never dream.
The faculties of the mind which are
most active in dreaming, are lmaginations
and the passions; the more grave ones of
reason and judgment are usually suspend
ed. The mind in dreaming is like a ship
at sea, without helm, - Imagination
spreads her sails, passions fill them, but
the helm of reason is absent to guide her.
We throw ourselves upon our couch, and
in the short space of ten minutes, we have
travelled thousands of miles over our high
ways. Taken ships and crossed the brawny
waters Of the great deep, visited and ex-
plored the beauties of a foreign land and
returned, after having surmounted storms
only surpassed by the samiels of Arabia
1t is often during the so-called "morning
nap" that we behold the picturesque
scenery of Niagara, or cool the parched
and thirsted lips with the sparkling water
at White Sulphur Springs or enjoyed all
the revelries of Long Branch. In a short
portion of our rest we have assembled and
descended the most gigantic mountains,
we have forced our way through the thick
est of forests, we have crossed extensive
prairies which are unacquainted with the
feet of men. Here imagination is at work,
but reason gently whispers-impossible.
The succession of our thoughts in dream
ing is regulated by the same laws of asso-
Citations as when we are awake, the objects
which most interest us when awake, are
the ones which we are likely to dream
about. The miser by day is the miser by
night; he dreams how he can gain and
retain money. The dreams of the student
whose thoughts when awake, are upon
books and men of learning, naturally take
their character and direction from those
objects. The dreams of the melancholy
man are tinged with his peculiar tempera
ment. The shipmaster, after passing
through perilous storms, jaculated, tossed
by the fury of foaming sea, and the
general after engaging in bloody battles,
staining his sword with the crimson blood
of man, and leaving beneath him the vic
tins of his power. Their dreams are
composed of new perils and new encount-
ers.
did not reason in our dreams, is hardly
correct; for mathematician have some
times solved problems in dreaming which
have puzzled them when awake. Men
have laid plans, in order to secure certain
objects, and when the time arrived for the
execution of the same, have failed, but by
| the aid of dream have become victors.-
Such was the case of preacher who COM
menced to write sermon, when he was
suffering with headache, he threw himself
upon his bed, and went to sleep; he men
toned his text, and went through his
sermon, which his wife took down in short
hand, and he presented the same to his
people, which was considered most excel
lent sermon.
But the process of reasoning to which
we have become accustomed, when awake
often go on spontaneously when we are
asleep. The mathematician mind was so
accustomed to solve problems in the day,
and when in the freedom from distractions
secured by sleep, their associations spon-
taneously suggest the solution Of his intri-
cate problem. And the minister above
cited, no doubt, had made his mind ia
miliar with train of thought before COM
mencing to write, and in the composed
state, secured by sleep, his association
called it up with perhaps more clearness
than he could have done by the aid of his
rational will.
But why do people like to dream? Be-
cause it is the pleasure they derive from
feeling that it is real, until old Sol sends a
few of his dazzling rays to dance upon the
wall by the music from snores and wakes
our dormant creature, only to exhibit her
willy visions of imagination.
The admonitions of the eternal world
withdrawn, imagination turned loose, the
mind is abandoned to the widest sugges-
ton of headlong association and what
ever is thus dreamed, has all the import
ance of reality, the most ridiculous forms,
the most absurd anachronisms, the most
contradictory conceits, are not too extrav-
agant to pass within the wisest philosophy
for sober varieties. Thus it is that places
the learned and the ignorant, the wise and
the simple, the rich and the poor, ON the
same level. They may feast together at
the kings table, or expatiate together
amid the slories of creation, or pine to-
gether in the darkness of dungeons, and
to all are these dreams alike realities.
The influence which bodily sensations
have upon dreams is quite singular. How
often we have dreamed of burglars enter
ing our houses, imaginations depicting to
our minds the Williams in the very act, the
noise from the changing of keys, and their
application to the key hole, the slight
creaking of the auger, as he bores his way
through the paneled door, and the gentle
tapping upon the clsisel as he gouges mite
by mite from around the bolted loci, we
awake, and to our establishment we find
the noise to proceed from the scraping on
the floor by an insignificant little rat, who
had selected the mid hours of night for
tho preparation of his plumber and not
from that of the caitiffs chisel.
An instance is related by the celebrated
DR.. Gregory, that after having placed hot
pans to the feet of his patients, he dream
cd that he assembled Mount Etna, and
while walking along the crater, he felt the
heat from the mount to the soles of his
feet. Another is related of DR.. Reid, (of