The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1879-09-25
What Dreams May Come"


of real and common tll4ngs. the feeling
of tremendous 'despondncy, the in,te
scribable prslongation OF time anl rNtyn.
sion of spacc-as elements, in his opium
visions. All these may rk.rat.tcrixc Ihp
dreams Of fever. and with :, most singular
counterfeit of system 'and ;.&tuaEi>y. \
sick man for instance, lies IN bed, ami,
halt-waklng bcthlnks him OF drink Of
water. He feels himsch Hris pass
through the door Of ms chambc9 and en-
ter the corridor. NJ ence the bare walls
stretch out in endless and changing Wis
tas; he aaI. s beneath Greri;Sa colonnades
for miles, down natsftauons rows af inscyu-
table sphinXcs, amid the massive tiesoa-
tionS OF Tadmor and Haulhcc, through
the ruinOuS closures OF Aztec temples.
under the statue caves OF Elcphanta, Or,
for thc changes of vision are as incon-
Gruous as they arc along mar
row alleys shut IN by lofty warehouses,
or sometimes through avenues Of palms,
or groves of pine; all nature and archi
lecture III a phantaSmagoric procession
with him for his little swallow Of water.
And reaching a stairway after an intinity
OF rens it expands ana desccnas Ike
illiml1aple Egyptian pyramids one upon
the other until they open into a mighty
untathomablc macstrom, which in its
turn becomes the rugged sulphurous pit
of a volcano descending into the very
heart of the globe. This is very like
some Of DeQuinccy's experiences, but ii
is the verltabc record Of recent in
valid.
The grotesque and horrible minglc
oddly in such arrangements Of the sleep
ing brain. The same dreamer found him
self climbing with much labor up pre-
cipitOus mountain, accompanied by a
very beautiful lady with whom he had a
casual acquaintance in real life. There
was a joyous tumut cfhundrcds Of people
on the top of this mountain, and it APP
peared that they were erecting Il monu
mcnt to some person unknown. The la
dy proposed to help, and did so by the
simple means Of breaking out from the
ledge fragment Of several IONS weight,
and in the most natural way, tossing it to
the top Of the monument where it I'M
medlatciy fitted in excellent shape. He
followed the iHdys example with equal
success, and this indeed seemed the fit
and proper method OF building mcmori-
ais. Il 4 moment the lady. the merry
crowd the mountain, We're not, and
the first awful trump Of the day Of ,judS-
mcnt was sounding; the skys wore
livid ashen hugh, and limnid 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 shape, and all the land was crowd
ed with men and women and children,
some screaming, some dumb and wnite
with dlsmay, a few serene and happy,
and some curious and noting down the
phenomena and the incidents attending
then This was the GreanoT's part and
as the figures shifted every now and then,
as by some Kaleidoscope trick, he strove
to organize corps Of organization, to re-
gard each quarter Of the heavens. There
was nothing stranger, as the dreamer re
members this astonishing scene, than the
curious irrelcvance of the commonplace
houses and barns and churches: the pcO-
pie were about as he would have expect
cd
But SWlttcr than a WCavcr's shuttle
this scene, too, vanished. and the dream
cr was in a great theatcr, packed tier
above tier with human beings, who were
witnessing a series OF tabIcaux vivants.
There w&s announced as the closing PIC
ture, THE Equality of Man The stage
was set for a palace interior, and from a
stately portal, in the blaze of many lights,
there stepped a ~lerdIy consorted pair,
arm in arm. One was woman of un-
earthly beauty, robed with consummate
elegance, adorned with jc els, and with
the mein of a sovereign. Her companion,
| upon whose arm she leaned, was woman
also-a colossal negress Of the most hid
eous African type. As the two appeared,
t lady turned her splendid face upon
the black, and lcered; the other grinned
J and the house broke into tcmpcstuous
laughtcr-trom pit to roof, one horrible
rush and din Of laughter. Even while
they laughed the lady's face fell away in
to the corrupt N OF the grave, and all
her garments and adornmcnts were filthy
rags, and the negro mask became grim
ming skull-''thc equality OF man''-and
the chorous of the thcater became vast
volume of Kisses and cries of anger Tho
dreamer awokc with that sight and those
sounds thrilling every nerve, and 'cried
aloud"