Smyrna times., 1889-07-31
TIIE0REMATIC DREAMS.
WARNING RECEIVED BY A TEXAS
FARMER AND HIS WIFE.

RECEIVED BY A TEXAS
FARMER AND HIS WIFE.
of "a Raid of Mexican Greascrs,
Which Was Fulfilled in the PanchO Parras !
AIassacre-The Neighbors Couldn't I'm !
dcrstand why the Farmer Moved.
Impending perils may cast shadow
ignored in a waking state,
while the mind is under the influence OF
a self deluding optimasm-the wish that
is father to the belief in the significance
of the threatening danger. But III sleep
the voice of the monitor cannot be 81
fenced by such illusions, and warning
forebodings often take the form OF dis
tinct visions, repeated with vividness
and frequency which at last cannot fail
to influence the actions of the individual,
in spite of all waking sophisms.
DREAMED Is TWICE.
I remember the instance OF an Amerl-
can family that had settled in the
northern uplands of Cameron county,
Texas, but before the end Of year re-
moved to the vicinity of larger settle
ment and sold their half completed
home for reasons that remained a mys-
tery to their upland neighbOrs
1--WE had selected that building site
after a good deal of prospecting, the
first proprietor of that house told me a
few years later, "and at first it seemed a
puzzle to me that nobody had pre-empted
it long ago It was Il broad hill with a
fine prospect east and south; we had an
abundance of timber, fine range, two
good springs, and a ledge of soft limo'
stone within a thousand yards Of the
house, where you could shape out build
inc stone with a common saw. l never
could hope to find better neighbors;
they actually got up picnic to celebrate
our arrival, so glad they were to have
English speaking folks within visiting
distance.
eve had every prospect of getting an
improved road anda postOilice, and three
months after our first entry l would not
have sold that homestead for ten times
my direct expenses. But about half a
wear after that ranch seemed a haunted
place and 1 didn't feel at rest night or
day, though people that know me are
not likely to call me superstitious. never
was afraid Of darkness even when l was
a boy and swarm of ghosts would not
scare me worth a cent. But one night,
about week after l had got homo from
trip to Brownsville Landing, l dreamt
our house was tackled by a band OF
Greascr bushwhackers (AIeXican bandits
and that they shot me down and killed
my little boy with a club, and then
loaded their horses with everything they
could move
''Two nights after l had exactly that
same dream over again, and l could see
every stick and stone in our yard, when
I tried to make a break for our next
neighbor and was shot down Just as
rushed through the gate. noticed the
| very horses and saddles Of that gang and
could have recognized every one of them
if l had met them in daylight, and Inov
Go believe that did see them somehow
or other on that trip to the landing.
THE WIFE's WARNING.
''The idea began to haunt me when that
dream had come back for the third time,
though l never said word; but one
morning my wife seemed uneasy till all
our farm hands had started to work
and then asked me to come out in tho
! garden for a minute.
"'Do you think there are any robber;
in this neighborhoodT she asked me
when we were quite alone.
"'Why, did you see or hear anything
suspicious? l asked her back.
No, but l had such a strange dream
last night said she, with a sort Of {
shudder. i dreamt a gang Of MeXicans
came to our house and made me run fOl
my life, and just before 1 got through
the door I saw them knock down little
Tommy with a club.
Didn't 1 help YOU: laughed.
"'I don't know she said. L saw yoJ
collar one Of them, and l kept calling
for you in English to save yourself, but
just as you dashed through the gate
heard the crack Of a shotgun and then
tainted
Il made no reply, but that minute
felt that we couldn't stay any longer
and two weeks after 1 made up my min,
to move to Indianola. There were III
MeXicans in our immediate neighbor
hood at that hill farm, and no seriou
robbery had happened anywhere neare
than Casa Blanca, but felt that l la,
to look for a new home if I expected t,
get an hours peace, and it often SCENE,
to me that l was doing a sin if let IN,
little boy out of sight for ten minutes
So we made up an excuse about school
and postofiice and managed to sell on
pretty place for few hundred Tn
neighbors thought must be half crazy
but l couldn't help it; and just ten week
after we were gone we got the news O
that Pancho Parras massacre. II
whole neighborhood had been sacke
and outraged, and as l know my boy,
am now morally certain that he woul
have stood his ground and got himsel
killed if he had seen any brute lay hi
hands on his mother"
The very homeliness Of that accouu
impressed me with conviction of its al
solute truth, and on the whole considc
it the most characteristic instance {
what Artemidoros would have calle
''theorematic dreams. Felix L. Oswald
NJ. D., in The Open Court.