The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-05-17
% A Strange rl.,l Dream. d.

L0I {. -e7 i ~. ii .seoi'aaf
'..- A Strange Dream.
As illustrating the manner in which
impressions of the past may emerge from
the brain, Ishall here furnish aninstance
bordering closely onIthe supernatural,
and fairly representing the most marTel..;
ous Of these psychological phenomena.
It occurred to a. physician, who related II,
in my hearing, to q circle whose cotiver-
sation hadaturned on the subject of per-
sonal fear. i"aWhat you are rsayipg,gphe
remarked, "may be very true; but I can
assure you that the sentiment of fear, in
its utmost degree, is much less common
than you suppose; and .th6ughI you''nay
be surprised to hear mes say it, .I2kpow
from personal experience That this is eer-
tainly so. When I was FIVE Or six years
old I" dreamed that was passing by q
large pond Of water in avery solitary
place. On the opposite side Of itlthere
stood great tree, that looked as if it, had
been struck by Lightning, and in the pond
at another part an Old fallen trunk, On
one Of the prone limbs Of which there
was 10 turtle'sunning itself. On asudden
q wind arose, which forced me, into the
pond, and in my dying struggles to extri;;
cate myself from it's green and Shiny wa.
tiers I'aWoke, trembling With terror. ''s2l
h"Aboute eight years subsequently, while
recovering from "a nearly fatal attack of
scarlet fever, this dream presented itself
to me, identical in all respects, again.
Even up to this time I think had never
seen living tortoise OF turtle, but / in
distinctly. remember t6at' there was a
picture of one in the first spelling, book
that Had been given me. Perhaps On &C:
count ofmy critical condition, this second
dream impressed, meiamore dreadfully
than tn the lfrst.:it 80 osl ,.fadt 97,m, ];
become q physician, and was now active
lily pursuing my professional duties Id one
of the Southern States.e;;SH so'fellIeut
that one July afternoon 7 had ITO take 9
long and wearisome ride on horseback,
It was Sunday, and extremely hot; the
path was solitary, there was not'a house
for .rniles.ulT The forest !hado that intense
silence 80 CHARACTERISTIC of; this time of
the day; all the. wild animals and birds
had gone to their retreats to be rid of the
heat ofthe sun. Suddenly at one point
oftheroad I came upon great staghant
water pool and: casting myo eyes across
lit, there stood "a pine tree, blasted By
lightning, and On a log that was, nearly
even with tie surface d a'turtle was bask:
ing:in the sum-; The dream oflny infan:
Cyl was upon me-; the bride fellfrommy
hands, an unutterable fear oyersha adowed
me, and I skunk away from the accursed
place. ''' '.''... : - -
is'Though business occasionally after:
ward would have. drawn me that way, I
could not summon resolution to go, and
actually have taken roundabout paths.
It seemed to me profoundly amazing that
the dream that: 1 had had shohld after
twenty years be realized, without respect
to, difference Of scene, or climate, or age.
"a .good, clergyman of my acquaintance
took tie opportunity of improving the
circumstances to my spiritual advantage,
andsin his kind ehthusiasm--for hsknew
that, Lhad, been more than once brought
to the point of death, by such sfevers--in-
terpreted my dream that I should die Of
marsh niasm. =. = - - ,'..''''s''' -
.aMost persons have doubtless observed
that they suddenly encounter ievents. of
a trivial nature, in their, course of lite, of
which they have AN indistinct recollec.
tion that they have dreamed before. For
along time. it seemed to me thatth was
a case of that kind, and that;it might be
set down among the mysterious and ,un-
accountable. How, wonderful it is that
we so often fail to see the simple explain.
alton of'things; when that explanation is
actually intruding itself;before usIicAnd
SO inrthis cases., it was long before the
truth cleaned in upon me, before my
reaassot,hing powers. shook off the delusive
impressions ofmy senses. But 1t occurred
at last !. forsI said Ito myself, is1it more
probable that such amystery is true, or
that, IhaVe dreamed for the third time that
which had already dreamed of twice be-
fore p Have 1really seen the blasted tree
and summing turtle? 8 Area weary ride of
fifty miles, the noontide heat, the silence
that could almost be felt, no provocation
to a dream! T have ridden under such
circumstances many a mile fast asleep;
and have awoke and known it;aand $50 1
resolved that if ever circumstances car
ried me to those parts again, would sat-
isfy myself as, to the matter. -, -.
Accordingly, after few years, when
an accident led me to travel there, / re.
visited the well-remembered scene
There was still the stagnant poo, but the
blasted pine tree, was gone; and after l
had pushed my horse through the marshy
thicket as far as I could force him, and
then dismounted and pursued close in
vestigation on foot in every direction
around the spot, -was-clearly convinced
that no pine tree had ever grown there
not stump nor any token Of its remains
could be seen and so now T have con-
cluded that at the glimpse of the water,
with the readiness Of those who are:fall-
ing asleep, / had adopted an external fact
into a dream that if, it had aroused the
trains of Thought which. ia II former years
had occupied me, -and-that, in fine, the
mystery was all. 81 delusion, and that I
had been frightened with less than a
shadow, h!ad ,l,i s.fI .a0r...A ~
The instructive story of this physician
teaches us how readily and YET how infs
pressively the remains of ola ideas may
be recalled; how they may, asit were, ,be
projected into the space beyond Us. and
take position among existing realities.
For this all that is. necessary is that there
should be an equalization of old impress
sions with new sensations, and! that may
be accomplished either by diminishing
the force of present sensations, or by in
creasing the activity Of those parts Of the
brain, ID which the old impressions IS are
Thus, when we are falling asleep, the
organs of sense no longer, convey their
special impressions with the clearness and
force that they did in hour waking hours,
and this gives to the traces that are stored
up in the brain the power of drawing up
on themselves the attention of the mind.
r IT