The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1881-01-26
Some Strangely Fulfilled Dreams.

Dickens once had dream which
was fulfilled, at least to his own
satisfaction. Here" he wrote on
May 80, 1863, is a curious case at
first hand. On Thursday night of
last week, being at the Office here, .
! in London, II dreamed that | saw Il
lady in a red shawl. whom ! sup
posed to be Z. On turning around
found that | didn't know her /;
and she said / am Miss Napier All
the time ] was dressing next morn
ing l thought, "What a preposter-
Gus thing to have so distinct a
dream about nothing! And why
Miss Napier p? for ! never heard OF
Miss Napier. That same Friday
night | read. After the reading
came into my retiring room Mary
Boyle and her brother, and the lady
in the red shawl, whom they pre-
sented as Miss Napier These are
all the circumstances exactly told. 4"
This was probably a case Of uncon-
scious cerebration. Dickens had no
doubt really seen the lady, and
been told that she was Miss Napier,
when his attention was occupied
with other matters. There would be
nothing unusual in his dreaming
about q person whom he had thus
seen without noticing. OF course 1t
was an odd coincident that the lady
! he had thus dreamed of should be
introduced to him soon after-possi
bly, the same day. But such coinci-
dents are not infrequent To sup
pose that Dickens had been special
| ly warned in a dream about SO un-
important matter as his introduc-
ton to Miss Napier would be alb
surd; for fulfilled, the dream was,
as Dickens himself described it, a
very distinct dream about nothing.
/ Far different in this respect was
| the dream which President Lincoln
had the night before he was shot.
If the story was truly told by Mr..
IStanton to Mr.. Dickens, the case is
one of the most curious on record.
| Dickens thus told it in letter TO
John Foster:
Con the afternoon of the day on
which the president was shot, there
was a cabinet council, at which he
presided. Mr.. Stanton, being at
that time commander-in-chief of the
! Northern troops that were concen-
trated around here, arrived rather
late. Indeed, they were waiting for
him, and on entering the room the
president broke off in something he
was saving, and remarked. "Let Us
proceed to business, gentlemen.
Mr.. Stanton then noticed with sur
prise that the president sat with an
air of dignity in his chair, instead Of
lolling about in the most ungainly
attitudes, as his invariable custom
was; and that instead of telling II
relevant and questionable stories, he
was grave and calm, and quite {
different man. Mr.. Stanton, on
leaving the council with the attor
! ney general said to him;
THAT is the most satisfactory
cabinet meeting have attended for
many a long day. What an extra
ordinary change on Mr.. Lincoln y
THE attorney general replied
! We all saw it before you came in
While we were waiting for you, he
said, with his chin down on hi:
. breast, Gentlemen. something very
extraordinary is going to happen
: and that very SOON To which the
j attorney general observed, Some
!, thing good, sir, | hopen when the
= president answered very gravely, i
, don't know. But it will happen
, and shortly too" As they were all
r impressed by his manner, the attor-
nev general took him up again
5 Have YOU received any informa-
= tion, sir, not vet disclosed to us?'
No answered the president, but |
; have had a dream. And ! have
, now had that same dream three
times. Once on the night preced-
ing the battle of Bull Run. Once on
) the night preceding such another,
! (naming battle not favorable to
, the North His chin sat on his
: breast again, and he sat rejecting.
Might one ask the nature of this
Fl dream, sir?" said the attorney
general, Well, replied the presi-
dent, without lifting his head or
changing his attitude, 4 aH on a
great broad rolling river-and l am
in a boat-and l drift!-and | drift !
but this is not business, sud
denly raising his face and looking
around the table as Mr. Stanton
entered-'let Us proceed to business,
gentlemen" Mr. Stanton and the
attorney general said, as they walk
ed home together, it would be curl
Gus to notice whether anything en-
sued on this, and they agreed to
notice. lie was shot that night. !"
Here the dream itself was not re-
markable, it was such Il one as
might readily be dreamed by a man
| from the Western States who has
been on broad rolling rivers. Nor
was Its recurrence remarkable. The
noteworthy point was the occurrence
of the dream three times, and (as
may be presumed from the effect
which the dream produced on its
third recurrence those three times
only, on the night preceding a great
misfortune for the cause of the
North. However, there is nothing
in the story which cannot be attrib-
uied to mere casual coincidence.
though the coincidence was suffi-
ciently curious. As three years
had elapsed from the time of Lin
coins death when Stanton told
Dickens the story, it is possible that
the account may haye been incor-
rect in some detail.-[ Richard Proc
tor, in Belgravia.
District Attorney Killed,