The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-08-04

the urgency Of Decius Albinus, one OF
the conspirators in whom he trusted.
lie could not bear TO be suspected Of
fear, being bravery itself, and SO went to
his death. That woman like Calphurnia
should have been influenced h. dreams
is most remarkable.
DR.. Macario, in his work on "Sleep
and Dreams" mentions a perfectly au-
thenticated case. In Charite-sur-L Loire.
small French village, very pretty
but poor girl was sought in marriage bv
young man of means. Her parents fa-
vored his suit, but she rejected him
They importuned her until she nravad
to the Virgin for guidance. The same
night she dreamed of young man in
travellers garb who asked her TO be his
wife. In the morning she recited to her
parents what had passed in her vision,
and they ceased to urge her marriage.
MOI long after she recognized at village
ball the young man of her dream; his
ngure, features, every detail of his dress
corresponding thereto. She blushed; he
notlced her, obtained an introduction.
and speedily became her husband. He
was Emile de la Bedolliere, on the staff
OF The Paris Steele, and he wrote Ma
carlo corroborating the story in every
particular. Her name was Angelo Bobin,
who had given to her teacher some time
before meeting the journalist an accu-
rate description of his person.
John Beaumont publishes in his ''Trea-
tise ofSpirits" astory told nearly two hun
dred years ago by Sir Charles Lee to the
Bishop OF Gloucester, and by the bishop
to him, Of his daughters extraordinary
death. She was engaged to be married,
and having gone to bed on Thursday
night in excellent health, awoke about 2
a. m. to see an apparition near her pil.
low. The apparition said: 81 am vour
mother; | am happy. By noon today
you will be happy too. You will be with
me-" The young lady knocked for her
maid, but could get no clew to the mys-
terry, which had deeply impressed her
She dressed herself, wrote to her father
she was living with her aunt-and re.
quested that the letter be sent him as
soon as she was dead. Her aunt thought
she had lost her reason, and summoned
a physician. He came, but could dis
cover no indications of mental or physical
ailment. The young lady asked that the
chaplain should read prayers, which he
did. Then she took her guitar, played
delightfully."- until near 10 o'clock, when
she took another chair, and on the strike
of the hour drew a long breath and
passed away
DR.. Macnish, who has no faith in
dreams except as phenomena, narrates a
remarkable experience of his own in his
PHILOSOPHY of Sleep" He was in Cath
ness, Scotland, when he dreamed that
near kinsman, residing 300 miles dis
tant, had suddenly died. He awoke in
terror, and the same day, writing home,
referred to the circumstance half Jest
ingly. He could not help feeling a pre-
sentiment of evil, and yet he blamed
himself for what seemed to be a childish
weakness. Three days after posting his
letter he got one, written the day before
his, which announced that on the very
day Of the morning of his dream his
kinsman had died of paralytic stroke,
though up to that moment he had ap-
peared to be in perfect health.
The majority of men have asvein of
superstition, unwilling though they may
be to confess it. Many think they are
not superstitious because they have not
the superstitions that are commonly SO
called. Ny superstition may be that l
believe myself without superstition.
have no faith in theology or in dreams.
One seems wholly irrational; the other,
while curious, interesting, suggestive, is
entirely indefinite. l have often thought
that some of the leading theories Of the.
ology, like its germ, may have been de
rived from dreams, which were evidently
the visions Of the old monks and fathers
of the church. Have not the vulgar ideas
of heaven and hell been got from good
and bad dreams? Sleep and death are so
analogous that this might readily be.
So sleep, death and dreams run parallel,
and by vigilant watching and persistent
study Of nature we may yet learn, if not
their secrets, much of their significance.
j. H, b.