The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1878-08-21

THE WONDERS OF MENTAL AcvrrIrr;

Memory aaa Dreaning-
THE WONDERS OF MENTAL AcvITITYs
The property in mental life called
memory ia that by which We may be
said to live yer past occurrences,
and it is this continued possession OF
former consciousness which consti-
tutes 10 us the knowledge Of contiu-
ued existence. He who should be
conscious only of the present, forget
ting entirely the past, would have no
idea Of continued duration +; although
he might live forever. he would not
possess tho ems of prolonged exist
ence. Memory, then, would seem to
make man conscious of Immortality !;
and without memory now would be
the all of life, ave though it were
immortal.
One curious phase of dreaming is
that it rarely brings back and repeats
the pleasant facts Of life, but almost
always those which were troublesome
or undesirable.
This may, perhaps. be accounted
for BY the fact that experiences which
constituted the average current of
daily life make no special impression
upon the mind, whereas those occur
ences which were remarkable and
Impressive by their offensiveness,
anxiety, care or cost, made a vivid
impression, which left, as it were, an
inefaceable scar.
We are very apt to remember the
errors and mistakes Of ourselves and
others much more wildly than our
e~xcellencies or the average current of
experience. How the recollections OF
an awkward blunder in company, or
a careless, ill-advised remark will
send a chill of shame and regret
through the system! A faithful horse
may carry bis rider a hundred miles
without q misstep, but a round stone
concealed in the sand may betray the
step of the horse and bring him to
his knees, causing the rider to give
him q bad name as q saddle-horse,
forgetting the millions of steps secure
ly taken, and remembering only the
one failure, and even in that case
overlooking entirely the adequate
cause of the misstep. And this is q
good an. loyue of human character or
conduct. Oae may live half q centu-
ry a model OF correct department,
and q single act of Improperly be
recorded as more than an offse, to all
that was commendab!e.
More than fifty years ago | was
employed in weaving on a fly shuttle
band-loom, and even now in my
dreams ] am often weaving and get
the shuttle caught in the web and
break down threads, or the shuttle
fails to get clear through, aud | must
push it to its destination by hand.
| never dream of dashing on freely
and pleasantly with the work; only
thetroublesome part or the incomplete
motions are revived in my dream
memory.
Over forty years ago | was con-
uected with paper manufacturing,
and my work consisted 10 running
the machine which formed the paper.
AS we had no dryer, the paper run
from press-rolls, and was wound up
on a reel or "lay-boy" in the wet
state. Sometimes the paper would
break and wind around the upper
roller, and, if allowed long to wind
Cd, it made a kind of wet pasteboard,
which must be broken at one side
and peeled off bv the hand as the
roll revolyed. This required a very
dexterous and energetic effort, and it
was one of the troublesome things
about the work; and just this process
| often perform in my dreams. 1t is
not the smooth running Of the ma
chine, hour after hour without q
break, except when one full "lay-boy"
was to be removed and an empty one
put on, that haunts my dreams, but
it is the incidental breaking CT the
paper.
Moreover, l dream Of driving, not
on the smooth road, at an exhilarat-
ing speed, but with a topping load
on q sideling road. l am driving
over a defective causeway-bridge, or
through q deep and rushing stream ;
phenomena, which, 10 my early x
p~erience, constituted an exceptional
and unpleasant fact.
l once forgot, on q rainy Sunday,
to feed my horse until nearly night,
and fifty times since that time l have
dreamed of ~neglecting to feed q horse
for two or three days and nights,
waking, with thankful joy, to find
that it was but q dream.
Will the memory of past misdeeds
be the undying scourge Of those
whose life is misdirected and wicked
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