Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-11-01
ceari=.Ieurnal, q.


Taking about peculiArities o
mems minds, | heard Senator Becl
tell q queer story the other day, ? sait
a gentleman to some friends last night
I'VE were all discussing the SAINT
subject that is up now, when Senator
Beck remarked that be thought q pc
culiarity of his brain had done him I
great deal Of harm in his lite. y
first noticed it, said Senator Beck
when | was boy going to school il
Scotland had a strict old preacher
for a tutor, aud with a number o.
other boys went to the parsonage Il
be educated. One night | was yery
sleepy and still had a long Latin lessor
TO get of. tried hard to learn it
bat almost before was aware | would
be doing, At length | read the ex,
ercise through in a half dreaming
condition, and, with the Latin all 1
tumble in my head, | went to sleep.
awoke the next morning with my brain
thoroughly clear, and, strange to say
all the antiquities 10 my difficult les,
son were made plain and | read the
Latin without a balk. The SAINT
thing happened second time
and | again found that when
went to sleep with a confused ideS
Of my lesson, learning it while hal
doing, that | Awoke with all thu
knotted points unrayeled. II BEGAN,
my custum after that to read my task
over Just before going 10 bed, and
never failed to have them in the
morning. My strict old tutor saw thai
| never studied, and thought one Of
the other boys was helping me. Al
length he gave me a page Of Livy Il
translate, and told me II | did not have
It for him the next morning be would
fog me. He then forbid any Of the
boys coming near me and watched MI
actions. read the lines as usual be-
fore going TO sleep. and sure enough
the next morning had them as pat a.
you please. He never troubled me
after that. Well, the year passed By
and l found my faculty still elinginl
to me, till | began to put too much
faith in it and depend almost entirely
on my mysterious helper. Some time
ago a phrenologist came to examine
my itmily's heads, and they all went
wild over him. | paid no attention tc
their talk, though my wife urged me
70 give the man trial. One day
however, be met me, aud was so per
sistent that | at length sat down to
him. He said he would examine my
head for s., and give me chart for
So. | Lold him 50 was all | would
throw away and he began to name my
characteristics. At length he said
You have one faculty that is fully
developed. Il is spirituality. You
have that faculty developed to a mark.
ed degree. You would have made a
hne medium. Your mind is capable
Of working separate from your body,
that is, it can perform mental labor
while the body is at rest and knows
nothing of it. You sometimes solve
difficult problems while you are asleep,
and wake up in the morning without
knowing that you have been at work. .
Here is 49," said |, "a man who
knows as much as you do deserves it.
My strange faculty. continued
Senator Beck, whether it be spiritu-
atty or not, is growing weaker. can
hardly explain the action of my mind
during these abnormal spells. / see
the lines and words before my mind
eye, and, without knowing the pro-
cess. or, indeed, being aware Of ans
process, | work oUt the problem. p
You remember John Sherman.
anecdoteo Of Beck, continued the gen.
tleman. Beck was working day and
night on the Taraf Bill, when a mem.
Der wondered how he got any rest
Oh, said Sherman, who was present
Beck rests himself when he makes /
speech A man who can work wher
he should rest may be pardoned if h
rests when he should work. ."