The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-07-03
Esome or the strange Fancies that Fit
ThrOu9h the Rrain.

-some or the strange Fancies that Fit
Through the Brain.
De Quincy describes the magnifying of
real and common things, the feeling Of
tremendous despondency, the indescriba- |
BILE prolongation of time and the extension
of space-as elements in his own opium
visions. All these may characterize the
dreams of fever, and with a most sim
gular counterfeit of system and actuality.
A sick man, for instance, lies in bed, half
waking, bethinks him of drink of water
He feels himself arise, pass through the
door of his chamber, and enter the corri-
dor. At once the bare walls stretch out
in endless and changing vistas; he walks
down monstrous rows of inscrutable
sphinxes, amid tie massive desolations
of Tadmor or Baalbec through
the ruinous closures of Aztec temples, un-
der the statuted caves of Elephanta, Or
for the changes of vision are as incongru-
ous as they are immense--along narrow
alleys shut in by lofty warehouses, or
sometimes through avenues of plants, OF
groves of pine; all nature and all archi-
lecture in phantasmagoric procession
| with him for his little swallow of water.
And reaching a stairway after an infinity
of eons, it expands and descends like IL
limitable Egyptian pyramids, one upon
the other, until they open into q mighty
unfathomable maelstrom, which in its
turn becomes the rugged sulphurous pit
of volcano descending into the very
heart of the globe. This is very like
some of De Quincey's experiences, but it
| The grotesque and horrible mingle odd
ly in such arrangements of the sleeping
brain. The same dreamer found himself
climbing with much labor up a precipit
Gus mountain, accompanied by very
beautiful lady with whom he h ad a casual
acquaintance in real life. There was a
joyous tumult Of hundreds of people on
the top of this mountain, and it appeared
that they were erecting monument to
some person unknown. The lady pro-
posed to help, and did SO by the simple
means of breaking ont from the ledge a
fragment of several tons weight and. in
the most natural way, tossing it to the top
of the monument, where it Immediately
fitted in excellent shape. He followed the
lady's example with equal success, and
this indeed seemed the first and proper
method of building memorials. In
La moment the lady. the merry
the first awful trump of the
day of Judgment was sounding; the skies
wore livld ashen hue, and lirlned upon
their vault, in place of sun or stars, which
, had fled away because there was no place
for them. were gigantic figures Of human
and bestial shapes, and all the land was
crowded with men and women and chill
: dren, some screaming. some dumb and
! white with dismay, n few serene and hap
py, and some curious, and noting dowr
the phenomena and the incidents attend
ing them. This was tho dreamer's part
and as the figures shifted every now ant
q then, as by some Kaleidoscope trick, h,
strove to organize corps of organization
!. to regard each quarter Of the heavens
I There was nothing stranger, as the dream
. er remembers this astonishing scene, thar
THE curious irrelevance of the common
e place houses and barns and churches; th'
7 people were about as he would have ex
pected. .-.. ..
But swifter than weaver's shuttle thi
e scene, too, vanished. and the dreamer wa
: in q great theater. packed tier above tie
with human beings, who were witncssiu,
!, a series of tableaux vivants. There wa
+ announced rs the closing picture, 9Th
!, Equality OF Man. The stage was set TO
e palace interior, and from stately portal
in the blaze ofsnany lights, there steppe'
+ a wierdly consortcd pair, arm in arm
. One was a woman of unearthly beauty
i robed with consummate elegance, Gdorne
with jewels, and with the mein of a sovol
:: eign. Her companion, upon whose arr
she leaned, was woman alsO-a colossa
:. negress of the most hideous African typ
i AS the two appeared, the lady turne
y her splendid face upon the black, an
q leered; the other grinned; and the hous
a broke into tempestuous laughter-fror
l. pit to roof, one horrible rush and din {
: laughter. Even while they laughed th
It lady's face fell away into the corruptio
e ofthe grave, and all her garments an
u adornments were filthy rags, and the NJ
gro mask became q grinning sku!l-''th
!, equality of man"-and the chorus of III
Il theatre became vast volume of hisst
u and cries If anger. The dreamer awok
u , with that sight and those sounds thrillin
every nerve, and ''cried aloud.
IS terer," in Springfield Republican.