The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-03

CLARA Mothers Instructive
knowledge of a Daughters Illness.
odd Dreams.
From the New York Sun
a number of men and women interested
,r The occult Side of life had met to dis
Gus and compare things. \ few were
confessed believers ia spirit intercourse,
some were only curious inquirers, while
oilers had had experiences which could
ro, be explained 10 their satisfaction.
oIu tell YOU what tires me in the whole
popular way Of looking al this matter, -
sara one of the last Nearly everybody
who sets out to investigate confines him
SELF 10 the so-called professional side Of it;
While we who have knowledge of the
Thing at first hand know that anything
Of real value soues either to oneself di-
Tecuy OF through some one who does not
make il business. Nobody can investi-
gate psychic phenomena without coming
ON one tangible fact at least, and that is
chat there is no clue or rule which fully
explains why communica ions. whether
through mediums, dreams, or impressions,
viii come sometimes and not at other
times; or why they generally come when
we seek them most ardently they will not
come at all. Now a professional is eX-
pected 10 supply something always, and
since he cannot command occult condi-
tons he resorts to the fake business in
order to keep up his reputation. Hence,
all the exposures of this kind neither
prove nor disprOve anything. would
give more for the opinion OF one man Of
science, who respected the matter enough
10 give it some serious study, than for the
investigations Of fifty sceptics who at
tend platform seances for the purpose of
breaking them UP.
I don't suppose there is another man in
America to-day who has had so many
strange mental stories related to him as
has Prof. William James of Harvard. His
great reputation as a psychologist and
his ceaseless investigation into mental
states have made him the recipient OF
thousands of mental experiences from peo-
pie who make no professional study of
spiritualism. put a question to him
not long ago, and in answer he replied, in
substance, that 50 far as absolute knowl-
controlled by any known law. They seem
90 be entirely sporadic. Sometimes they
come to people with apparently tangible
cause, and at other times without any
cause that can be traced. IL all the les
ser men of science would only be as hon
easily outspoken In this matter as are most
of the great men, notably such men as
Crookes. Wallace. Hodgson, Myers, and
others Of the Society for Psychical Re-
search, the public would obtain much
more light on the subject than it gets
now l could name a good many medical
men, for instance, and right here in New
York, too, who are just now working
most zeaolusly to guard the public
against fake doctors, including spiritual
lists, as well as Christian Scientists, and
who are more than half believers in the
things they openly condemn. l was talk
ing the other night with a physician,
keen, alert, up-to-date little man, who told
me some very strange things in his own
experience.
"g've been a believer in the supernatu-
fal All my life he confessed. It is not a
matter of seeking; I can't help H. How
am I most affected? you ask. Well, in two
ways; by overpowerng impression and by
dreams which cannot be gnored.1 am fair
Is impeiled TO do certain Things; expert
nenung with my impressions has taught
me 10 respect them. Where I have not
cone so / have come 10 grief. DO I act upon
my dreams2 Wen, / would be a chump If
] did not. l have known some dreams
which were almost literal foreTunners Of
friend of mine dreamed that he had read
in the newspapers Of The failure OF con-
Germ in which ne had some money. The
dream was so vivid that he went at once
and drew his money out. He had some
trouble in doing il, and made enemies OF
the concern. But that would have hap
pened anyway, for in two weeks time the
whole thing burst up and there was en-
nifty all round. But the man who acted
on a dream had his money Intact.
My dreams are seldom literal; they
are rather symbolic; but l have learned
to diagnose them as I would the case of a
patient. Let me illustrate a case: For years
past a messenger has come to me in
dreams whenever any important event was
In The air, or l had any business project in
mind about which I hesitated 10 act. This
messenger IS a quaint-looking little wo-
man, plain and past middle age. 1 have
never known such person in this life.
She had come constantly; her visits
are at intervals more or less apart. Some
three weeks ago she visited me by drea m
again, dressed in the same dark, ofd-fash-
toned garb, with close little bonnet about
her face. This time she looked smiling and
elated. came close up TO me, and touching
my cheek with her hand, said: Don {
hesitate any longer; go right on and do
whsr you have in mind. You'll succeed.
Don't fear" / went next day and COM
pleted a money transaction about which
there was some venture and which l had
j.. hang nre. The result is that I am about
$1,000 more IN pocket to-day.
i laughed aloud continued the mar
-stor. when the man had finished. And
you I said, believing all this, and hav-
ing reason to believe it, are one of the
most active among the men who are work
ing TO get up an active law against all
eoothsayers, medicinemen and falthcurists
generally, Aren't you ashamed of your
Inconsistency
a." Not at ALL he replied, with heightened
color, not at all: everything needs to be
in the hands of educated men,
Another doctor, now a middlq-aged
man, related 70 me not long ago a queer
case of his being unprecedented. 1t was
IN the early days of his practice in a
country town where calls We're not active
and patients lived far apart one morn
ing he was about to ride TO 1ne five miles
away. His buggy stood ready at the door
1t contained his case OF medicines, and
everything ready for a start As he
reached the door he seemed to hear a
voice-not vocalized, but, as it were. ring
ING through his brain, and flooding con-
seriousness. II said, Take your case of