The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-12-05
Cooper's Wen The Dreams that Led
to its Discovery.

of the Well, and the story of Mr.,
Cooper's dreams that led to its discovery
On Saturday last we received a copy Of
the phamphlet, through the courtesy Of
Dir. B. T. Hobbs, editor of the Brook
haven Leader, from Mrs. s. L. Burdine
of his town. Mrs. B. is the youngest
daughter of Rev. Preston Cooper, and
!. is perhaps the only person in the State
who could respond to our request.
/ The phamphlet was printed in 1851
and is entitled, History of Cooper:
| Well, Cooper's Dream, Analysis OF
the Water, the Infamous Suit in re
lation to the Well, etc, etc" It is
30 pages in extent, with nine chap
tiers, copyright secured" The name of
the author is not disclosed, but it is evil
dent that he exhausted the subject.
We give the following
EXTRACTS.
The land on which the Well is stu
ated, was purchased of Mr.. E. Long, by
the Rev. Preston Cooper, in the year
1887, for a small sum of money, and
was only considered valuable for its
salubrious and romantic situation, and
desirable for a quiet and peaceful coun.
try residence.
CooPER's DREAMS.
The following very singular dreams
caused Mr.. Cooper to finish his Well,
and discover he most remarkable min
eral and medicinal water of the present
day. And, in order that the public may
have the dream Just as 1t, or rather the
| dreams Just as they occurred, | will en-
deaver to give them in his own words =
zone night, as / lay on my bed
wrapped in a peaceful and quiet sleep,
induced by q consciousness OF being at
peace with all men, dreamed that /
saw q figure as of a man with familiar
face, stand before me, and, when j
looked the man said, cooper, resume
the digging of yourwell; much depends
upon it; it is all important you should
do it; see you to it, and vanished.
so plain was the dream, that when l
awoke, (which was immediately),I could
scarcely persuade myself that it had
been a dream.
This occurred at Vicksburg, while
was preaching to the church there, and
sometime after the work on the Well
had been given up, and all idea of
prosecuting it abandoned. very nat
urally supposed that, although / was not
conscious of having thought of the
Well for some time, the dream had been
induced by a recurrence of the mind in
my sleep, to a subject that had at one
time been a matter of deep interest to
me. Hence ] thought but little about
it.
"But few nights after this, the same
same familiar face, repeating the same
words This, concluded, was a natural
consequence from thinking of the first.
But it occurred again and yet again for
months, with scarcely the intermission
of a week, without a repetition of the
same dream, until at the end of about
FIVE months, / began to feel that there
must be something more than mere as
ISOLATION in this singular affair. And
after bordering the matter well, con-
cluded that it was my duty to resume
the work.
81 accordingly employed a second dig
ger, who again commenced the work, |
and, after great labor, succeeded in work |
ing through the rock, which he found to |
be nine feet thick, and, after digging a
few feet further, he struck another and |
still harder rock, upon which after work
ing two days, he quit, saying he would /
not work through the rock for all the
water at the bottom of the Well. / also
considered it q hopeless undertaking.
and gave my consent for him to quit
"Thus matters stood for near two
months, when the same dreams returned
exactly as they had before; but / never
coGld call to mind the name of the per-
son who appeared in the dream, although
the face was familiar one. And thus
it pursued me almost nightly, until de-
termined to employ third digger |
did so, and employed Il man who, after
immense labor, penetrated through a
rock almost solid to the depth of thirty
feet further, and then declared the work ,
not on y useless, but foolish, and gave up
the job.
The expense being heavy, and poor,
did not insist on his continuing, and SO {
The work was suspended third Time! I
Near a year now passed away, and / ;;
began to think that there was at length !
IN end to these extraordinary dreams,
md this expensive and apparently use i
ess work. Being much engaged in my t
PASTORAL duties, all recollection of the t
circumstance, save the inroads it had v
made on my purse, began, to fade from !,
ny mind. And again, happy and con- y
ented with my lot, rejoiced in the Law d
1 the LORD, which is perfect, convert Al
ng the SOUL and the testimony of the Il
.oRD, which is sure; making wise the
nipple &c
But Heaven had ordered that the N
idden treasure, this ckrir of health. d,
Mould no longer remain concealed from m
uman ken, and good to man. y
while away from home on tour of
reaching, continues Mr.. Cooper
suddenly one night, the same familiar T,
zee, as a messenger from Heaven, or
eddler from Hell, in the stiffness of W.
le midnight hour, stood before me ~
I'd, IN more commanding voice than tet
'er before said, Cooper you must finish 81
e Wei; you must employ the fourth Il
gger! much depends upon it; see that Il,
n do itp sll
$50 vivid was the impression that this att
cam made on my mind, I also dreamed
fore aw0ke that had EMPLOYED the
eth man and that he did obtain water.
q that saW Il got! and that the man
d, when he obtained il: i have got in
ter, but it stinketh nightly, so that yes
u can never use it! n
i awoke troubled and perplexed: 7 81,
iyed to God to give me understand eat s
!, and to guide me in this inscrutable az
tier. ] felt that I had ALWAYS en-. 'ie
lyored to walk worthy of nav "yoca-
IN the Lord, that I had always Ma
m the time | professed religion. up Una Una
the present, endeavored to serve him zot
d pure heart and single mind. and j
: ne would not permit Satan thus to nee
met me, but for some glorious pur- of {
In the end. Hence / reasoned with T
self thus: III these dreams are Of cell
!, 1t IS nay duty to finish the Well ceso
what It may, God will provide the pref
accordingly, i arose next morning Ol;'
nday) with my course plain before ogst
hastened home, sent to jackson 80,
employed the fourth digger. Tie
9 on Tuesday morning, and com. A
ced. 1 told my dream to INV neiCb. Z. \
, but they, knowing my pecuniary capt
were SURPRISED 81 ~ is
7 t ana laughed satt-.is.k simplicity; Ala.
De slss.s x, ( wa sc py duty. Ju
NJ = isi' ~ to be Gerry
~ a. II Evar
distance from home ON the ensn;r go go
rday and Sabbath, which mad 49, a
sary for me to leave home on r.. Mrs.
ing. And besides. ~ urday her ty
ments which would dsss,. vtner ap. niece {
some time. thereto. ~ 2. from IN the
Fater would be nhtafnndr .cHeNeQ Inhr