Little Falls transcript., 1879-09-04
What Dreams May Come.

| DeQuincey describes the magnify1np
of real and common things, the feeling
Of tremendous despondency, the inde
scribable prelongation of time and exten-
sion Of space-as elements in his opium
visions. All these may characterize the
tdreams of fever, and with most singular
counterfeit of system and actually. A
sick man, for instance, lies in bed, and
half-waking, bethinks him of a drink of
water. He feels himself arise, pass
through the door of his chamber and en-
ter the corridor. At once the bare walls
stretch out in endless and changing vis-
tas; he walks beneath Grecian colonnades
! for miles, down monstrous rows of inscru-
table sphinxes, 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 immense-along mar
row alleys shut in by lofty warehouses,
or sometimes through avenues of palms.
or groves of pine; all nature and archi-
lecture in phantasmagoric procession
with him for his little swallow of water
And reaching stairway after an infinity
of aens, it expands and descends like
illimitable Egyptian pyramids. one upon
the other, until they open into 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 DeQuincey's experiences, but it
is the verltable record Of a recent in
valid.
The grotesque and horrible mingle
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 joyous tumult efhundreds of people
on the top of this mountain, and it ap-
peared that they were erecting a monu-
ment 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 tons weight,
and in the most natural way, tossing it to
the top of the monument, where It i'm
medlately fitted in excellent shape. He
followed the lady's example with equal
success, and this indeed seemed the fit
and proper method of building memori-
ais. In moment the lady. the merry
crowd, the mountain, were not, and
the first awful trump of the day of :judg-
ment was sounding; the skys wore a
livid, ashen hugh, and imnid 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
6estial 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
ther- This was the dreamer'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 irrelevance of the common place
houses and barns aud churches: the peo-
pie were about as he would have expect
ed.
But swifter than weavcr's shuttle
this scene, too, vanished, and the dream
er was in great theater, packed tier
above tier with human beings, who were
Witnessing series of tableaux vivants.
There was 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 w1erdly consorted pair,
arm in arm. One was woman of un-
earthly beauty, robed with consummatc
elegance, adorned with jewels, and with
the mein of soverei ign. Her companion,
upon whose arm she leaned, was woman
also-a colossal negress of the most hid
eous African type. AS the two appeared,
the lady turned her splendid face upon
the black, and lcered; the other grinned; :;
and the house broke into tempestuous
laughter-from pit to roof, one horrible
rush and din of laughter. Even while
they laughed the lady's face fell away in
tn the corruption of the grave, and all
her garments and adornments were filthy
rags, and the negro mask became grin
ming skull-"thc equality of man'-and
the chorous Of the theater became a vast
volume of Kisses and cries of anger. The
dreamer awoke with that sight and those
sounds thrilling every nerve, and 'cried
aloud"