The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-01-15
Fulfilled Dreams.

Dickens once had dream which wa,
fulfilled, at least to his own satisfaction
"Iiere," he wrote on May 80, 1868, ''s ,
curious case at first hand. Being at the
office here" in London, ~ dreamed that
saw lady in q red shawl with her back
toward me, whom l supposed to be r.
On turning round l found that | di,ln,
know her; and she SAID, Il am Miss Nap
ier.' All the time l was dressing mex,
morning | thought, what a prcposterous
tnlng to have 60 very distinct dream
about nothing! And why Miss Napier
TOR never heard of any Miss Napier.
That same Friday night read. After tho
reading came into my retiring room Mary
Boyle and her brother, and the lady In tho
rcd shawl, whom they present as "Miss
Napier. These are all the circumstances
exactly told" This was probably case
of unconscious cerebration. Dickens had
no douot really seen the lady, and been
tod that she was Miss Napier, when his
attention was occupied with other matters
There would be nothing unusual in his
dreaulng about 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 in
very day after. But such coincldcnces
arc not infrequcnt. 10 supposc that
dickens had boen specially warned IN n
dream about 60 unimportant a matter as
his introduction TO Miss Napier would b..
absurd; for, unfulllllcd, the dream was. as
Dickers himself described ii, very dis
tinct dream about nothing Far different
IN this respect was the strange dream
which President Lincoln had tho night be-
fore he was shot. If the story was truly
told by MIR. Stanton to Dickens, the case
IL one OF the most curious on record. Dick
ems told it thus in letter to John Forstor:
'On the afternoon Of tic day on which
The president YVES shot, there ives u cas,inc,
council, at which he presided. Mr. Stan.
ton, beng at the time commander In. chief
oil The Northern troops that were concen-
tratcd about here, arrived rather late. In-
deed. they were waiting tor him, and on
his entering the room the president broke
OIL in something he was saying, and ro
marked: Let us proceed to business, gen.
tlemcn.' Nlr. Stanton then noticed with
surprise that the president sat with an air
OF dignity in his chair, instead of lollinp
about III the most mgainly attitudes, as
his invariablc custom was; und thut in
stcad of telling irrelevant and question
able stories, he was grave and calm, and
quite different man. MIR. Stanton, on
leaving the council with the attorney
general, said to him: That IL tho mos,
cabinet meeting 1 have at
tended for many long uny. What an
extraordinary change in Mr.. Lincolnr
The attorncy-gcncral replied, 'We all saw
1t before you cunc in. While we were
waiting for you, he said, with his chin
down on his breast, 'Gcnllcmen, some
thing very extraordinary is going to hap-
attorney general had observed, 'S6incthmg
good, slr, l hopc e when the president an
swered very gravely, Il don't know !
don't know. But it will happen and
shortly, too. AS they were all impressed by
his manner, the attorney general took him
up again. 'Have you received any infor-
nation, sir, not yet disclosed TO usl'
No. answered the president, 'Dut have
now had the same dream three times Once
on tho night preceding tho battle Of Bull
Kun. Once on the night preceding such
another, (naming a battle also not favor
able to the North.) LIS chin sank Oh his
breast again, and ho sat rctlcctlng. Might
one ask the nature of this dream, gir2' said
the attorney general 'Wcll,' replied the
president without lifting his head or
changing his attitude, i nm Oh Il great
broad rolling river-and am III boat
and drift and drift but this is not
business, '-suddcnly raising his face and
looking round the table as Mr.. Stanton en-
tercd-'let us proceed to business, gentle
men, MIR. Stanton and the attorney gen
eral said, as they walked on together, 1t
would be curious to notice whether any
thing ensucd on this, and they
agreed to notice. He was shot that
night Here the dream itself was
not remarkable, it was such one as might
readily DO dreamed by man from tho
Western States who has been on broad
rolling rivers. Nor was its recurrence re-
markable. The noteworthy point was the
occurrence of this dream several timcs and
Gas may be presumed from the effect
which the dream produced On its third re-
CURRENCY these three times only, on tho
night p, eccdng great misfortune for the
cause Of the North. However, there Is
nothing in the story which cannot be attrl-
butcd TO merely casual coincidence, though
tho coincidence was sufficiently curious. AS
three years had elapsed from the timo Of
Lincolns death when Stanton told Dickens
the story, 1t is possible that the account
may have been incorrect in some details.