The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-01-05
Dreams and Their Interpretation.

Everybody in Jura believes in
dreams. ''There was Dreams" said
an old man to me one day, from
the beginning of the world, and there
will be dreams till the end of it."
When limited that there were dreams
enough, but very little meaning to
them, he asked: ''Have you no mind
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 a 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 | would be telling
everything l did see in the night?" an
swered a man indignantly when some
body pressed him to tell what he had
been dreaming about. 1t would make a
long catalogue to attempt to tell all the
meanings the people of Jura ascribe to
dreams, but / will give 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 bv the banks failure arrived A
Jura woman dreamt that she saw two
moons in the sky at the same time. II
was told" said she, "that this meant
that a 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
q new one OF oak; that a number of
cats had seized hold of his hand by
tooth and claw, but he shook them oil
and on looking at his hand saw not
even scratch. From all this" said
Malcolm, Il took courage, for | knew
| would come out all right in the end,
and so | did" Other dreams 90 by
contraries. One morning Sandy Lind
say came to me and said he saw in the
night steamer passing and heard
music and saw great dancing on the
deck. and he asked me what it meant.
About week later word came that his
grandfather's sister had died and her
body was on its way back to Islay.
"Well, said Sandy, Il knew it was not
good thing to see so much rejoicing"
In like manner, to see wedding is a
sign of funeral, ard to see funeral
is sign of birth, and if it is possible
to make out whose funeral it is, the
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 meaning
they give them. The meaning, in their
mind, belongs to the dream by q purely
arbitrary law of association. 1t is
clear, however, that their interpreted
IiOuS VI hCIC dll
ally worked out by analogy, even though
the analogy is frequently too vague to
be any longer easily detected. Thus,
to dream of seeing a nest of eggs is a
sign of being about to have quarrel
with somebody. To see vessel, espe-
cially steamer, sailing over land, is a
sign of death. To dream that you have
lost the sole of your boot means that
you will lose your sweetheart. To see
a house with no roof on it is a sign of
death. To dream you get cow from
anybody is a sign you will get a wife
from the same place. Neil Darroch
was once told by Il man in Colonsay
that he saw Neil leaving the byre and
receiving a COW from the master he was
then serving. There was nobody
them said Neil, ''that | was thinking
of marrying, but four years later, when
l was working at the same place,
took wife away with me from that
very house" To see man drunk is a
sign that he will be afflicted either with
illness or with mental trouble. ALFRED
f. Wheeler IN San EranciSc0 Ern1lli1ler.