The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-12-31
STRANGE DREAMS.
And Their sim stranger Fu1nliment

anu AhcAE SAIAI StEauROT 4
Richard Proctor, in Belgravia.
Dickens once had dream which was
fulfilled at least to his own satisfaction.
Here" he wrote on May 80, 1853, "is a
| curious case at first hand. On Thurs
day night last week. being at the Office
here" in London he wrote on May 80,
1868, II dreamed that | saw a lady
| in red shawl with her back towards
me, whom I supposed to be E. On her
turning round l found that l didn't
know her, and she said, 4 am Miss Ma
pier All the time l was dressing next
morning thought: What a preposter.
Gus thing to have so very distinct a
dream about nothingI And why Miss
| Napier? for l never heard of any Miss
Nnpier.' That same Friday night /
read. After the reading came into my
retiring room Mary Boyle and her broth
er, and the lady in the red shawl, whom
they present as Miss Napier These
are all the circumstances exactly told"
This was probably a case of uncon-
scious celebration. Dickens had no
doubt really seen the lady, and been told
that she was Miss Napier, when his at
tention was occupied with other matters.
There would be nothing unusual in his
dreaming about a person whom he had
thus seen without noticing. OF course
| it was an odd coincidence that the lady
of whom he had thus dreamed should be
| introduced to him soon after-posslbly
| the very day after. But such co;nci-
! dences are not frequent. To suppose
that Dickens had been specially warned
| in dream about so unimportant mat
| ter as his introduction to Miss Napier
would be absurd for, fulfilled or unful-
| filled, the dream was, as Dickens him
| self described it, a veiy distinct dream
| about nothing.
| Far different in this respect was the
strange dream which President Lincoln
had the night before he was shot. If the
story was truly told by Mr.. Stanton to
| Dickens, the case is one of the most
curious on record. Dickens told it thus
in letter to John Forster:
"On the afternoon Of the day on which
| the president was shot, there was O cab
met council, at which he presided. Mr..
Stanton, being at the time commander
| in-chief of the northern troops that were
| concentrated about here, arrived rather
| late. Indeed, they were waiting for him
and on his entering the room the presi-
dent broke off in something he was say
ing, aud remarked:
Let us proceed to business, gentle
men, -
Mr.. Stanton then noticed with surprise
thai the president sat with an air of dig
nifty in his chair, instead of lolling about
in the most ungsinly attitudes, as his in
j varible custom WIS; and that instead of
telling irrelevant and questionable sto-
ries, he was grave and calm, and quite a
differant man. Mr.. Stanton, on leaving
the council with the attorney general,
said to him:
THAT IS the most extraordinary cabi.
net meeting have attended for many a
long day. What an extraordinary
change IN Mr.. Lincoln.
The attorney general replied:
we all saw il before yon came in
While we were waiting for you, he said
with his chin down on on his breast.
Gentlemen, something very extraor-
very SOON To which the aitorney-g gen.
, eral had orbserved:
Something good, sir, hope?
i don't know the president answered
: gravely, Il don't know. But it will hap
pen, and shortly, too
As they were all impressed by his
manner the attorney general took him
up again.
Have you received any information,
sir, not yet disclosed to us?
No. answered the president, but
have had dream. And have now had
! the same dream three times. Once on
the night preceding the battle of Bull
] Run. Once on the night proceeding
such another (naming battle also not
favorable TO the north.) His chin sank
: on his breast again, and he sat reflect
, ing.
Might one ask the nature of this
/ dream, sir, said the attorney general.
Well replied the president, without
/ lifting his head or changing his attitude
, 4 am great, broad. rolling river-and
am IN boat-and drift!-and / drift!
but this is not Enthusiastically
, raising his face and looking round thG
! table as Mr.. Stanton entered-'let us pro
! coed to business, gentlemen
i Mr. Stanton and the attorney general
: said. as they walked on together. il
would be curious TO notice whether any
thing ensaed on this, and they agreed 70
} notice. He was shot that night
Here the dream itself was not remark
: able. It was such one as might readily
be dreamed by a man from the western
: states who had been on broad, rolling
I rivers Nor was lis recurrence re-
] | markable. The noteworthy point wa
!; the recurrence of this dream three sew
j eral times, and (as may be presumed
D from the effect which the dream pro
e duced on its third recurrencel thoss
/ three times only, on the night proceed
: ing great misfortune for the cause 0
the north However, there is nothing
e in the story which cannot be attributed
to merely casual coincidence, though III
!, coincidence was Sufficiently curious a
e three years had elapsed from the tim
of Lincolnss death when Stanton tell
e Dickens the story, il is possible that III
account may have been incorrect Il
o some details.