The Worthington advance., 1878-10-03

into these sleeps she became quite re-
markably clever. = After having heard her
fluent conversation in the bedroom I was
greatly surprised to find that she could
hardly speak at all wh,n she had been
reused from that trance aud we had gone
down to the retsctoire for supper. Her
French was OF the very baldest English
school girl possible. Happening, howev-
er, to fall asleep some days latter over =
French lesson, to the astonishment of our
teacher she began to speak with ease. In
one of those frances one OF the girls no.
ticed that the top of her thumbs-or rath-
er, not quite the top, but the part just
opposite the nail-was black. She took
hold Of her hand, and touching it, said,
"What's the matter with your hand, Lii
ana"
Lillian snatched away her hand, cry
ing, "Oh don't; you hurt my eyesr'.
We noticed after this that all reading
whilst in these frances was conducted
by means of the THUMBS; her eyes fixed
on vacancy. she would sit passing her
thumbs from line to line of the book,
The lessons thus learned were never re-
membered in her waking moments, but
always came back in any succeeding
trance. This popularity has seemed IN
credible to most people who have heard
it, and indeed is incomprehensible; but
it Is in all respects never theless true. She
used sometimes to play the piano in
these frances: and although when awake
she could not play better than child Of
eight or ten years Of age. she performed
very fairly in her sleep; indeed had i; not
been for the thumb difficulty, she would
have played very we'll; but sbe had to
twist her thumbs in a peculiar manner,
to prevent touching the black spot
through which she seemed to see.
Still more extraordinary were her
drawing powers when asleep. I have
still portrait Of herself done in one Of
these frances, and one night she drew in
crayons on her door an exquisite figure of
an angel. Although when awake she
could not remember the events which
had taken place during her trance, in her
frances she solved the difficulties of her
waking moments. One night she was
much provoked at the appearance of a
bonnet sent by her milliner, as far too
small for the fashion OF those days. When
shc woke the next day, she found that
she had got up in her sleep aud altered
the bonnet most skillfully by letting in
some cardboard covered with black silk.
1t was quite common thing for her to
90 to bed with her masses OF raven black
hair down her back and to find it most
elaborately plated on waking In the
morning; and have known her to alter
articles OF wearing app-rel in her s.eep
She also seemed to haye GIFT of second
sight. In one Of these frances she was
noticed to be in very low spirits and at
last to burst into tears. On being asked
the cause of her tears. she said she could
see her betrothed in London flirting with
another girl. Shortly after came a letter
from her guardian with such accounts OF
the young mans behavior with the girl
OF whom Lillian had been jealous, that the
engagement was broken off.
She told most OF our fortunes in her
sleep; but in my case, am bound to con-
TESS, without success. Whether she was
more correct in regard to herself, l do
not know. She foretold that she would
be killed by fall from her horse at the
age of thirty. But it seemed unlikely she
would live to that age if her som.
nambulism continued, as after these
frances she often had the most fearful
illness, both heart and brain being effect.
ed by them. One of the worst of these
came on after trance she had fallen into
at church; she walked, still asleep, ou,
with US afterwards, but unluckly woke in
the Champs Elysees. and was so terrified
that it was with difficulty We got hel
home. When at length We did so, she
had terrible illness, from which she was
scarcely expected to recover.
| She had the best physicians in Parls
and they one and all declared hers to bs
the most wonderful case of somnambul
ism heard OF in the present generation,
with oneexcepticn-that Of young man
the particulars of whose story, however,
do not know. The disease (for such
OF course. it was) was accounted tor bv
them as the result of an over amount Of
Drain, causing consequent pressure. She
may be said to have had a brain for wax
ing purposes, and one that acted when
she was asleep. What one brain knew
the other did not. Evidently the sleep.
ing brain was the cleverest. The waking
brain lacked intelligence. While the
sleeping brain was active she was in 9
state OF somnambulism, and could dc
things that could not possibly have been
attempted in her waking moments. He,
condition was, of course. unnatural; it was
dlseased-very curious and unhealthy
The cleverest doctors in Paris who were
consulted could do nothing tor her.
Wharbecame of this extraordinary gir]
after she left school do not know, quite
lost sight of her, and have done so for a
quarter OF century. But still her por
trait often reminds me of her. It is ir
water colors, somewhat coarsely, bu. clev.
eriy drawn, and gives good idea of her
Her massive braids of hair it especially
exhibits to perfection; she wore it in !
coronet over her head, in style peculiar
to "erself This picture has, however, {
d'sagreeable impression upon those who
look at it, from the fact that the eyes seem
to follow you wherever you 20.
| For ourselves at school, cannot sax
whether we felt most fear of our unu.
suai school-fellow, or most curiosity about
her, curiosity which we were ALWAYS
able to crafty in her sleep. She was con
sc1ous herself that she often said things il
those frances which she would not have
said when she was awake, and used to bee
US not to repeat to her any OF the things she
had said to US, which, however, our natu-
raj sense of honor would have forbidden
US from dong; nor indeed did we take
any unfair advantage OF her peculiarity
only, when she was inclined to talk in he,
sleep, we were content to listen, and gath
er some portions of her unusual history