The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-12-27
A statesman,s Mental PeeuIlarity.


Talking about peculiarities of
mems minds, l heard Senator Beck
tell queer story the other day." said
gentleman to some friends the
other night. 1--WE were all discussing
the same subject that is up now,
when Senator Beck remarked that he
thought popularity of his brain had
done him a great deal of harm in his
life. I first noticed it. said the sena-
tor, when was boy going to school
in Scotland. 1 had a strict old
preacher for tutor, and with q num-
Der of other boys, went to the parson-
age to be educated. One night was
very sleepy, and sUill had long
lessen to get off. l tried hard to learn
| would be doing. At length L read
the exercise through in a half dream
ing condition, and with the Latin all
a tumble in my head, went to sleep.
l awoke the next morning with my
brain thoroughly clear, and, strange to
say, all the antiquities of my difficult
lesson were made plain, and read the
Latin without a balk. The same
thing happened a second time, and l
again found that when | went to
sleep with confused idea of my les
son, learning it while half doing, l
awoke with all the knitted points re-
vealed. 1t became my custom after
that to read my tasks over just before
going to bed, and never
failed to have them in the morning.
My strict old tutor saw that l never
studied, and thought one Of the other
boys was helping me. AT length he
gave me a page of Livy to translate,
and told me if l did not have it for
him the next morning he would fog
me. He then forbid any Of the boys
to come near me and watched my ac-
lions. read the lines as usual before
going to sleep, and sure enough the
next day 1 had them as pat as you
please. He never troubled me after
that. Well, the year passed by, and
l found my faculty still cllnglng
to me, till 1 began to put too
much faith in it, and depended
almost entirely upon my mys-
terious helper. Some time ago phre-
nologist came to examine my familys
heads, and they all went wild over
him. 1 paid no attention to their
talk, though my wife urged me to
give the man a trial One day, how
ever, he met me, and was so persistent
that at length sat down to him. He
said that he would examine my head
for 80, and give me chart for SIS. l
told him So was all l would throw
away, and he began to name my char
acteristics. At length he said: "You
have one faculty that is fully de-
veloped to a marked degree.
You would have made fine medium.
Your mind is capable of working sep
arate from your body-that is, it
can perform mental labor while your
body is at rest and knows nothing
about it. You sometimes solve diff
cult problems while you are asleep,
and wake up in the morning without
knowing you have been at work"
Here is five dollars" said L; ga man
who knows as much as you do de-
serves it." My strange faculty. con-
tinued Senator Beck, whether it is
spirituality or not, is growing weak
er. l can hardly explain the action
of my mind during these abnormal
spells. I see the lines and words be-
fore my minds eye, and, without
knowing the process, or, indeed, being
aware of any process, l work on the
problem
"You remember John Sherman's
anecdote of Beck?" continued the
gentleman. "Mr. Beck was working
night and day on the tariff bill, when
a member wondered how he got any
rest. Oh said Senator Sherman, who
was present, Beck rests himself when
he makes a speech a man who can
work when he should rest himself
may be pardoned if he rests when he
shOu1d work"