Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-09-11
DREAM DISCOVERIES.
Sleep Seems at Times to Have the POwe
of RevivinG Lost Memory.

Sleep Seems at Times to Have the Power
of Reviving Lost Memory.
The Rev Mr.. Woodrow. the his.
iorian of the Covenanters. is an en-
husiastic Calvinist. 1t was he, /
think, who told poor woman with
\ large family that lit would be an
uncouth mercy if all her children
were saved This was logical,
from his point of view--they that
be saved ave few; here is Il family
ST dozen, and their mother actually
Expects to meet them all in the New
Jerusalem Such Il mercy would be
"uncouth. Then Woodrow believes
in every kinll of portent and miracle
and warning and boyle, down to
Cotton Mather's lost sermon, mar
volously pursuing him and rejoin-
ing him as he rides
The following anecdote would
have delighted Woodrow, though
how he would have Classed it ! can
not guess. A gentleman, very well
known i'll many ways, was at his
house in the country, where a young
lady was visiting himself and his
wife She lost pearl from Il ring.
II could not be found, and she went
home Four or five weeks later she
again visited her friends, arriving
in the evening, and, as it happened,
not going into the library that day.
Next morning, while dressing, her
host said to his wife:
did you remember to take away
the pearl that Mary lost from the
place whepe l put it,"
you never said anything about
it," answered the lady.
"Oh, excuse me! told both you
and her that found it in chink of
the bureau in tho library, and put
it Oh top of my papers, and asked
you to take it lest the servants
should dust it away in the morn.
ing
The lady then went to her guests
room and asked her il she remem-
bered being told about the discovery
of the pearl She agreed with her
hostess that the subject had not
even been mentioned.
"Then the maids will have swept
it away" said my friend, and he
ran down to his study i'll his dress.
ing gown. The pearl was not where
he remembered having laid it, but
he looked ia the crevice where he
said that he had found it, and there
lay the pearl.
One explanation would be that he
had dreamed the whole affair, the
dream being suggested by an uncon-
scious OF sleconscious perception
of the pearl in the orevice But he
cannot recall any dream on the sub
ject. He was certain that he had
found the thing when wide awake,
taken it out of the chink, placed it
on the top of his papers, and told
both ladies.
1t is just conceivable that he actu-
ally did find it and place it on the
papers; that, meaning to inform the
ladies, he believed that he had actu-
ally done so and that the pearl was
accidentally swept back by the
housemaid into the chink of the bu-
reau whence he had rescued it, This
would not have been WOdrOw's ex-
PLANTATION, but it would have recon-
mended itself to Dr.. Carlyle.
know personally of four cases in
which lost articles were discovered
by dream of tho losers. The last
case was the key of the cellar-an
awkward thing to lose. After it
had been missing for days the owner
areaAed that it was lying in Il GER
tain druwer, where it was found,
though why, how or when it was
placed there memory could not re-
call. Sleep seems occasionally to
have this power of reviving lost
memories of things dono OF perceiv.
ed with imperfect waking con-
sciolsness. Andrew Lang in Long
mans