The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-01-03
Dreams and Their Interpretation.


Everybody in Jura believes in
an old man to me one day, '.from
the beginning of the world, and there
will be dreams till the end of it,
When I limited that there were dreams
enough, but very little meaning to
of Pharaoh and his dream about the
seven fat cattle and the seven lean
ones? There is dreams, of course, that
has no meaning, but there is plenty OF
meaning to dreams when you look into
them right" 1t is significant proof of
this faith in dreams that nobody in Jura
ever speaks of what they have
.'dreamed," but solely of what they
"saw in the night" They speak Of
dreams as though they believed men to
be endowed during sleep with higher
faculty of vision than was ever pos
sessed by them in their waking hours.
..Do you think l would be telling
everything 1 did see in the night?" an
swered man Indignantly when some-
body pressed him to tell what he had
been dreaming about. 1t would make o
long catalogue to attempt to tell all the
meanings the people of Jura ascribe to
dreams. but / will give a few examples.
To dream on Sunday night means that,
if the dream have any meaning at all,
there will be proof of its meaning be-
| fore Monday is passed. The interpre-
tation of most dreams goes by analogy.
| Before the failure of the Western Bank
of Glasgow in 1857 the late Laird of
Jura is said to have dreamt he
was bitten in the leg by dog.
He spoke of this dream at the time
and few days later the news of his
losses by the banks failure arrived. "A
| Jura woman dreamt that she saw two
moons in the sky at the same time. 81
was told" said she, ''that this meant
that new Laird was coming, and sure
enough the Laird we had died soon
after" Malcolm Mclean, one of the
watchmen of the Laird's deer, was in
danger at one time of losing his place.
He dreamt three dreams: That he was
drowning and tangled in seaweed, but
his hands reached rock and he was
saved; that he lost his stick but found
new one of oak; that number Of
cats had seized hold of his hand by
tooth and claw, but he shook them of
and on looking at his hand saw not
even a scratch. "From all this" said
Malcolm, 81 took courage, for knew
L would come out all right in the end,
and so did, Other dreams go by
contraries. One morning Sandy Lind
say came to me and said he saw in the
night a steamer passing and hearc
music and saw great dancing on tht
deck, and he asked me what it meant
About week later word came that hi
grandfather's sister had died and he
body was on its way back to Islay
s.Wel," said Sandy, 81 knew it was no
good thing to see so much rejoicing.
In like manner, to see wedding is {
sign of funeral, and to see a funera
is sign OF birth, and if it is possibl
to make out whose funeral it is, tn
birth will be in the same family.
The people of Jura are not them
; selves conscious of any analogy be
! tween their dreams and the meanin,
they give them. The meaning, in thei
mind, belongs to the dream by a purel
arbitrary law of association. 1t i
: clear, however, that their interpreta
tions of dreams were nearly all origin
ally worked out by analogy, even thoug
/ the analogy is frequently too vague
' be any longer easily detected. Thus
TO dream of seeing nest OF eggs is
sign of being about to have quarrt
with somebody. To see vessel, espt
, cially a steamer. sailing over land, is
{ sign of death. To dream that you hav
| lost the sole of your boot means thf
/, you will lose your sweetheart. To Sc
S house with no roof on it is sign {
: death. To dream you get a COW frol
!. anybody is sign you will get a viii
f from the same place. Neil Darroc
J., was once told by man in Colonsa
that he saw Neil leaving the byre an
o receiving a COW from the master he Wa
g then serving There was nobod
}. then,'' said Neil, ''that was thinkin
t of marrying, but four years later, whe
). l was working at the same place,
took wife away with me from th'
!. very house." To see man drunk is
. sign that he will be afflicted either wit
illness or with mental trouble. .-Alfrt
q 4. Wheeler. in San Francisco Examine
|