The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1892-05-05
KILLED BY VAN ORDEN:
The Story Of Remarkable Coin
cidence.
DO YOU believe in dreams?"

do You believe in dreams?"
"Cert~inly," l replied. "Everybod
has dreams; every animate being, l
should have said. They are the crea-
tions of the brain, and everything that
has brain has dreams"
do you believe that dreams have
any significance: or, as teople say, do
they mean anything?" persisted my
friend.
They mean something" answered,
little testify, perhaps. when YOU
see dog moving his legs in little jerks
and hear him emit mutfied bark in his
sleep. he is chasing a rabbit or maybe
a tramp in imagination: horse that
stamps and whinnies in hi: sleep is in
imaginary harness; and so on with the
lower orders. Man, having a wider
range of waking thought and action,
naturally has a greater variety of
dreams. With man. dreams generally
mean a heavy supper or too much
liquor: sometimes dyspepsia, or being
in debt or in love: or sometimes they
simply mean that the dreamer is lying
in cramped position Some very re-
markable dreams have been traced to
that cause"
Then a perfectly healthy man in
good spirits, not in love Tor in financial
straits, who arrangeS his body in
proper manner between the sheets,
should not have dreams?'
AS rule. no; of an unpleasant char
acter, certainly not. That is the the.
ory.'
You believe it?'
YES
Frank looked out of the window in
silence, and, by the glare of the gas
lamp, scrutinized his face with some
apprehension. l anticipated something
grewsOme. although the surroundings
We're neither gloomy nor romantic.
We were in Franks room, a second
story 'front.' in middle-class boarding
house in a middle-class neighborhood.
The windows looked out on clean
prosaic street, and the room was fin
ished in conventional style. Frank
Chessman was a medical student, now
in his last year at college, and he was
not at all inclined to be mystical, nor
even speculative. Of all professions,
none is SO intensely realistic as the
physician's. He cuts and carves to the
root, and is so intent upon prying into
the secrets of the body that he gives
little thought to the mysteries of the
soul. The heart is machine to pump
blood, the lungs ere chemical purifiers,
the brain is mass OF gray matter
that is all. My young friend had not
even the average students fondness for
prankish decorations with bones and
skulls; his room might have been a
bookkeeper's.
Yet" said Frank. knocking the
ashes of his cigar on the window-sill,
Il have had OCEANS that cannot recon-
cile with the theory"
Quite likely l returned. you
may be deficient in analytic power;
think you are"
do you?" Frank laughed, softly,
and, | was glad to see, without any
trace of uneasiness. l had foreseen .
discussion on matters about which nu
man knows anything. and nothing can
be more wearisome than that. So that
! was disappointed when he added:
Let me tell you about singular
dream had year ago
Very well, | assented, as courteous
ly as could
Il had gone to bed early" began
Frank, land am quite certain that
did not overeat, and l drank no liquor
at all. | am equally certain that was
not in debt, love or bad health. But
dreamed BY the way, did you ever
meet Van Orden?''
Not that remember"
If you had you would have remem-
bered him. He was a law student at
the university; had free scholarship
from the city, l believe, and in many
respects he was remarkable young
man. He was about my age, but much
larger, and I always thought he was
too handsome for man. He had great
black eyes-soft as an Italian girls
crisp curly hair and complexion like a
peach. Not rrig or fop, mind! He
was on the football eleven and base
ball nine, and an all-around athlete as
we'll"
We'll" said, shortly.
''Well, ! dreamed about Van Orlen.
In my dream ] was walking along the
edge of a great, high cliff which over
hung the ocean. l do not remember
that ! ever saw such place in my
waking hours, and when | thought it
over afterwards came to the conclu-
sion that had read about such cliffs
in England and Scotland, and perhaps
seen pictures of a similar locality"
Very likely" assented.
well, / dreamed l was walking
along when Van Orden came slowly
toward Inc, and as I stretched out my
hand to greet himh seized me around
the body and hurled me over the cliff.
j fell down, down, an interminable
time, as you do in dreams, and then.
which is very unusual in Dreams !
struck the water"
And awoke?"
mo, I didn't. A smothered feeling
came over me, and then I saw my face
floating on the surface of the water,
and heard voice say: He has been
killed Then I awoke, all in a trem-
biz
"A disagreeable dream" I comment
ed, but not unique or otherwise re-
markable."
II am aware of that" rejoined Frank,
''but it has a sequel"
Your dream was repeated? Still,
nothing unusual. A vivid dream leaves
an impression upon the brain almost
equal to an actual occurrence, with the
result that when the body is quiescent,
the brain recall the impression. This
happens not only once, but many times,
without any special significance"
NO" said Frank, quietly; "the
dream was not repeated"