American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1880-09-11

T. IL
OF earths music the ennobler, OF its discord
the refiner.
Pipe of Pan was once its naming, now 1T hath
-Scribner's Monthly.
SUCH STUFF AS DREAMS ARE
MADE OF.
The question which your contributor
asks in the June Atlantic, "What
causes the recurrence of a certain kind
of dream during a certain period?" is
not easily answered. 1t would be easy
to say, 1.-The recurrence of similar con-
ditions," but that is merely restating
the question. 1t is not probable that
we shall ever have a complete science
of dreams, because when we begin to
observe and classify we must be wide
awake. Dreams are of too subtle stuff.
They easily elude analysis.
My own dreams, however, 1 can di-
vide into three classes, and l have q
theory which fits them exactly. 1t is
this: Sleep comes down on us from
above and submerges our faculties in
the order of their excellence. In
dreams of the first class the artistic
sense is asleep, but all the other facul-
ties are awake. In dreams of the Sec
ond class the moral sense is submerged,
and about all that remains active is the
instinct of self-preservation and tiger
ish love of blood; both feelings which
lie near the foundation of our nature.
In dreams of the third class hardly the
sense of personal identity is left; in
fact, we are asleep down to proto-
plasm.
1t is true Coleridge composed Kubla
Khan in dream, but his sleep was not
true sleep; it was probably =" secondary
coma" induced by opium. You can
not prove anything against my theory
by Coleridge. Was it not Cowper who
awoke thrilled with lyric he had COM
posed in his sleep, which began:
:" By heavens, I'll wreak my woes
Upon the cowsip and the pale primrose7'
And it was an equally celebrated man
who. under similar circumstances,
could recall but two verses of a poem to
youth. These were:
Boys boys, boys, boys,
You great and dangerous hobbledehoys.
My first point, that the constructive
Imagination is the first faculty to go to
sleep. think may Re considered estab-
lished. We dream that we make elO-
quent speeches, or visit beautiful
scenes, but if we can recall them they
are destitute of all proportion and fit
IN order to make my meaning clearer
/ will instance specimen of each class
of dreams, at the risk of infiicting a
'.garrulous relation of visions" They
are given merely as scientific ilfustra-
tiOns of my theory that sleep comes
down like a cloud and obscures the
higher faculties first. would premise
by saying that my dreams are never
suggested by the subjects in which 1
have been Interested when awake.
foil IxDl< L.
The events are as distinctly impressed
q on my memory as if they were real.
/ found myself riding leisurely on
horseback on the road from the village
to my fathers farm, when became
aware of a bright light behind me, and
looking upward saw a large meteor,
about one thousand feet in the air,
moving slowly in the direction / was
going. Presently small elderly man,
also on horseback, joined me, and
mended my pace to keep up with him.
He told me that he was from Boston;
that he had foreseen the advent of the
meteor, and in fact had followed it by
short cuts for several hundred miles. 1
expressed surprise at the slowness of its
motion, but he explained that its
velocity was only apparent; that it had
Overtaken the earth with q motion the
same in rate and direction as the earth
had; and that though it seemed to be
moving slowly it was in reality going
very fast. / objected that when it came
within the sphere of the earth's attrac-
ton it must fall rapidly, under the in
fuence of gravity. On this he looked
at me benevolently, and said, half to
himself. ''Ah, yes, the old Newtonian
error" L have seen many times since
the same benign expression on the faces
of my Boston friends. when l felt that
they were saying to themselve, at is
interesting to find the old misconcep-
tons surviving in the New York man."
Meanwhile we reached the foot Of a
small hill on my fathers farm, where
the meteor had struck the earth. There
were congregated here my father, the
tenant of the farm, the village lawyer,
well known horse-jockey and several
others. The Boston man said that he
wished to buy the meteor, and that he
was authorized to offer ten thousand
dollars for it. To this my father agreed,
remarking that it was "mighty good
meteor, but no use to him." The ten
ant claimed half of it as natural pro-
duct of the land; but the lawyer said
that it was clearly real estate, and was
referring to a case in point decided by
the Court of Appeals, when the ten
anu pulleu out MS lease and read tho
clause, land the said party OF the sec
Ond part, in addition to half of all crops
of sanfoin, trefoil and murdocks raised
on said farm, shall receive to his own
use, behoof and benefit one equal and
undivided moiety of all the aereolites
and meteoric stones that may fall on
said farm during said term" The law
yer said, "That settles it, but the
Boston man said, with a decision born
of knowledge, "This is neither an
aereolite nor meteoric stone; it is a
griffolith." The horse-jeckey stepped
forward solemnly, and laying both
hands on the stone burnt them badly.
Drawing back hastily, he remarked.
ut is a nasty griffolith." Two such
authorities agreeing, the tenant made
no further claim. The Boston man
filled up a check on form especially
prepared for the purpose, headed ''Fera
cclestia nature," and we dispersed well
pleased, and glancing upwards for more
griffoliths.
What l wish to emphasize in this
dream is that all my instincts of Justice
and respect for law and reasoning pow
ers were awake The reverence which
the New York mind feels for the Bos-
ton mind was also in full force That.
however, is one of the deeper instincts