The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-02-25

Peculiar Visions Of tho sightIess I'm Their
Slumborx

Peculiar Visions Of tho sightless I'm Their
slumbcrs
From the Philadelphia Recordi
Dreaming tho happy hours away" Is
the refrain of once popular sony.
There arc few people. nevertheless,
Who do not profess to prefer the pleas
lres of the waking hours to those
slumber, however bright may be their
sions. But to the blind who have in
other days looked out upon the beau
ties of nature and met their fellows in
the fullness of sight, the happiest hours
are those which bring to them the ob
livion of sleep and the sweet consola-
tion of dreamland. Superintendent Hall
OF the Working Home for Blind Men in
West Philadelphia said in CONVERSE
ton upon this subject: III have no
greater pleasure in life, now that /
have lost my sight, than in dreaming,
for then, and thea only, / catch glimpses
OF the world about me. j am no
longer blind. The scales fall from my
eyes and see like other men; see as /
did in years gone by before the terrible
affection came on me and shut out the
light of day. In dreamland l never
seem to have been blind. am at the
home to be sure, but, instead of hav-
ing only my fingers and ears to guide
me, / can see the inmates, and what is
stranger yet, although in reality have
never seen one Of them, in my dreams
they all appear familiar to me by sight
and not by their voices"
This curious experience of Mr.. Hall
seems to be that of all persons who
have become blind after the early years
of life have passed. The blind who
have become so afflicted from birth
never dream of seeing anything. The
Impressions Of their dreams are regu-
lated by the Impressions made and
ideas obtained by the sense of touch or
hearing, of taste add smell. One of
the most intelligent inmates of the
West Philadelphia Home" who came
into the world blind, says that, although
he has read great deal, he never
dreams of the things he has read about,
and never dreams of any thing or per-
son with which he has not in some way
come IN personal contact. He dreams
of music, of the voices of persons he
knows, of such incidents as might hap
pen at the "home," or some place in
which he has actually been, but never
of incidents in other places or in other
lands. OF n landscape, a picture, a
tree. or human be 'ng he never dreams.
Even althougKhe has read descriptions
of localities, of natural beauties, of the
appearance of street or city. no idea
of what they look like is formed in his
mind, and none comes to him in Ito
fancies of his sleep.
A blind man has been known to
dream of ghost, and he thus tells
the story: Il heard voice at the door
and I said: 'iless me il that amt
John, and took him by the sleeve; it
was his shrt-sleeve 1 felt and / was
afraid of him. Then / dreamed that
he continued to brighten me, as / knew
that he was dead. L thought that i
was being pursued by ghost Then
1 woke up and felt no more" Our
blind frieod often dreams OF being out
did not dream that he saw the street or
the scenery in the country; but he felt
the open air of the country and recog-
niZed the street because he was
dreaming of one along which
he had frequently walked. Curious
and full of interest as are the
dreams of the blind Of every condition,
thore is class of blind people whose
sleeping impressions arc of special in
terest- that class of unfortunate people
who become blind when qnite young,
at period when external OBJ ,ects and
the outward world generally had just
begun to make an impression upon
them. Such blind people sometimes,
but not always. dream that they can
see; but in their vision they see things
with the eyes OF childhood, and they
never dream of any scene or object ex-
c-pt those which like dim recollection
have remained III the memory from
what they actually saw before they be-
came blind. A blind man who was strick-
en- at the age of five years and never
visited the country dreams of seeing
city streets, city houses, or city parks,
but never of country scenery, OF rail.
road, or a river, and so vice versa. AS
often as not tn s class of blind persons
dream as if they had never been blind at
all. and at other times rs if all memory
of blindness had passed from them