The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1879-09-04
what Dreams May Come -

DeQulnccy describes the magnitylng
Of real and common things, the feeling
of tremendous despondency, the indie
scribable prslongation of time and extern
sion Of spacc-as clements in his opium
visions. ALI these may characterize the
dreams Of fever, and with most singular
counterfeit Of system and actually. A
sick man. for instance, lies in bed, and
halfwaking, bcthinks him Of drink Of
water. He feels himself arise, pass
through the door Of his chamber and Gu
ter the corridor. At once the bare walls
stretch out in endless and changing Wis
tas; he walks beneath Grecian colonnadcs
for miles, down monstrous rows of inscru-
table sphinxcs, amid the massive desola-
tions of Tadmor and Baa!bec, through
the ruinous closures Of Aztec temples,
under the statue caves of Elephanta, or
for the changes Of vision are as incon-
gruous as they are immensc-along mar
row alleys shut in by lofty warehouses,
Or sometimes through avenues of palms,
or groves Of pine; I'LL nature and archi-
lecture i'll phantasmagoric procession
with HIM for his little swallow Of water.
And reaching a stairway after an infinity
Of ICONS, it expands and dcsccnds like
illimitablc Egyptian pyramids. one upon
the other, until they open into a mig hty
unfathomablc 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 DeQuinccy's experiences, but it
is the verltablc record OF recent i'll
valid.
The grotcsquc and horrible minylc
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 III real life. There
was joyous tumult efhundrcas of people
on the top of this mountain, and it ap-
peared that they were erecting monu-
ment to some person unknown. The la
dy proposed to help, and did 50 by the
simple means of breaking out from the
ledge fragment of several tons weight,
and in the most natural way, tossing It to
the top of the monument, where it I'M
medlatcly fitted in excellent shape. He
followed the lady's example with equal
success, and this indeed seemed the fit
and proper method of building memoir
ais. In moment the lady. the merry
crowd, the mountain, were net, and
the first awful trump of the day of judy
mcnt was sounding; the skys wore i,
livid, ashen hugh, and limnid upon their
vault, i'll 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 white
with dismay, a few serene and happy,
and some curious and noting down the
phenomena and the incidents attending
Their. This was the dreamcr's part and
as the figures shifted every now and then,
as by some Kaleidoscope trick, he strovc
to organize corps Of organization, to re-
gard each quarter Of the heavens. There
was nothing stranger, as the dreamer re j.
members this astonishing scene, than the
curious irrelcvance of the commonplace
houses and barns and churches; the poo
pic were about as he would have expect
ed.
But swiftcr than wcaver's shuttle
this scene, too, vanished, and the dream
or was in a great theatcr, packed tier
above tier with human beings, who were
witnessing series of tablcaux vivants.
There was announced as the closing pic
ture, 1.-THE Equality of Man, The stage
was set for palace interior, and from a
stately portal, in the blaze of many lights,
there stepped wlerdly consorted pair,
arm IN arm. One was a woman Of un-
earthly beauty, robcd with consummatc
elegance, adorned with jewels, and with
the mcin of sovereign. Her companion,
upon whose arm she leaned, was woman
also--a colossal negrcss of the most hid
cous African type. As the two appeared,
the lady turned her splendid face upon
the black, and lcercd; the other grinncd ;
and the house broke into tcmpestuous
laughter from pit to roof, one horrible
rush and din Of laughter. Even while
they laughed the lady's face fell away in
t" the corruption of the grave, and all
her garments and adornmcnts were filthy
rags, and the negro mask became grin
ming skull--"thc equality of mainland
the chorous of the thcatcr became Il vast
volume Of Kisses and cries of anger. The
dreamer awokc with that sight and those
sounds thrilling every nerve, and "cricd
alOud.''