The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-08-01

Il "
clothing; but though safe at night, il
the morning no trace was TO be found o
them. At last the mystery was solved
Miss Church, who slept at the top of tn,
house, had a friend few doors off who
slept on the same floor. One night thii
friend was reused by tapping at hel
window. With wonderful presence O.
mind she opened it gently, and II
climbed Lillian Church. She hac
clambered all along the ledge at the tor
of the house; but how she had escaped
death no one knew. OF course, after
this her window was secured, and she
was watched; and it was discovered
that she had herself got rid of her things
by going down at night in her sleep and
blrying them in the garden
Upon this further discovery of her pc
culiaTity, an eminent doctor was con-
suited, who prescribed perfect change OF
air and scene and the society of young
companions. Lillian was therefore sent
to school in Paris.
l doubt whether Madame had any idea
of the task she was undertaking. Ger
tainly, if she hoped to keep Lillian S
condition a secret confined to two or
three she was disappointed, for this
strange girl used to fall into frances at
all hours of the day. The most re-
markable part of the case was that al
though she was downright stupid, and
deficient of intelligence when awake,
as soon as she fell into these sleeps she
became quite as remarkably clever.
Her French was of the very baldest
English school girl possible. Happen
ing, however, to fall asleep some DAYS
later over a French lesson, to the as
constituent of her teacher she began to
speak with ease. In one of these frances
one of the girls noticed that the top of
her thumbs-or rather not quite the top,
but the part just opposite the nail-was
black. She took hold of her hands,
and touching it, said:
"What's the matter with your hand,
LilianP"
Lillian snatched away her hand, cry
ing; ...,.,-
"Oh, dont'tl You hurt my eyes,
We noticed after this that all reading
while ia these frances was conducted by
means of the thumbs; her eyes fixed
on vacancy, she would sit passing her
h.
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 nevertheless 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 10 years of age, she
performed very fairly in her sleep; in
deed, had it not been for the thumb diff
ficulty, she would have played very well,
but she had to twist her thumbs in pc
culiar manner 10 prevent touching the
black spot through which she appeared
to see.
Still more extraordinary were her
drawing powers when asleep. 1 have
still portrait of herself done in one of
those frances, and one night she drew
in crayons on her door an exquisite fig
ure of an angel. Although when awake
she could not remember the events that
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 bonnet sent by her
milliner, as far too small for the fashion
of those days. When she woke the next
day she found she had got up in her
sleep and altered the bonnet most skill
fully by letting in some cardboard COW
cred with black silk.
1t was quite a common thing for her
3 L. 4 I. r
black hair down her back and to find it
most deliberately plated on waking up
in the morning; and have also known
her to alter articles of wearing apparel
in her sleep. She also seemed to have
gift of second-sight. In one of those
frances she was noticed to be in very
low spirits, and at last 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 fortune in her
sleep; but in my case, am bound to |
confess, without success. Whether she |
was more correct in regard to herself,
do not know. She foretold that she !
would be killed by fall from her horse |
at the age of 80. But it seemed unlike |
ly she would live to that age if her SOM |
continued, as after these |
frances she often had the most fearful !
illness, both heart and brain being af- |
fected by them. One of the worst of |
these came on after trance she had |
fallen into at church; she walked, still |
asleep, out with us afterward, but IN
luckily woke in the Champs Elysees,
and was so terrified that it was with diff |
ficulty we got her home. When at
length we did so, she bad terrible i'll |
ness, from which she was scarcely ex-
pected to recover. She had the best |
physicians in Paris, and they one and
all decIared hers to be the most won
derful case Of somnambulism heard of |
in the present generation, with one ex-
of young man, the par
tieulars of whose story, however, do
not know.
The disease Qor such it really was)
was accounted for by them as the re-
suit of n-over amount of brain, caus-
ing consequent pressure. She may be
said to have had a brain for waking
purposes, and one that acted when she
was asleep. What one brain knew, the
other did-not- Evidently the sleeping
brain was the cleverest. The waking
brain lacked intelligence. While the
sleeping brain was active, she was in a
state of somnambulism, and could do
things that could not possibly have
been attemptedin her waking moments
Her condition, was, of course, unnatur-
al; it was diseased-very curious and |
The cleverest doctors In |
Paris who were consulted could do
nothing for her > ~ %
What became of this extraordinary
girl after she left school l do not know.
quite lost sight of her, and have done
so for quarter of century. But still
her portrait often reminds me of her.
1t is in water colors, somewhat coarsely
but cleverly drawn, and gives a good
idea of her. Her massive braids of hair