The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-17
IT'S A REAL PIPE DREAM
The Vivid Illusion of a Young
Butte Man.
HE HIT THE SEDUCTIVE
The Rich Imagery Which Filled His Mind
While Under the influences of
the Great Sleep
Giver

Here is real pipe dream. A young
1an. well known in Butte, but whose
name, for obvious reasons, is not to be
published, became possessed with a
hankering thirst for knowledge on the
subject of pipe dreams. He had heard
much about the soothing effect of
opium smoking and the delightful
concluded to try it and visited a we'll
known Chinese joint where he ac
CURED all the knowledge and expert
ence he wanted. A few days ago he
wrote out the subject of his dream,
probably the first actual pipe dream
that was ever transcribed. Here it is:
Il thought l was again a very young
man, living in a strange, new mining
town in Western state. One evening,
wearied with my daily labor, 1 has
tened to the little room 1 called home
and hastily disrobing, prepared myself
for a good nights rest, when suddenly
sort of frenzy overpowered me, and
hastily donning my clothing l ran down
the stairs and out into the now silent
streets. Hurrying along, impelled by
some unseen force, soon found myself
on the outskirts of the town. Right
ahead of me lowered lofty mountains,
stretching on and on as far as the eye
could reach, snow-capped and awesome
under the cold moons ghostly light. l
seemed to be impelled onward by an
inexplicable force that nothing could
resist, and after what seemed hours /
found myself in deep canyon, a spot
never visited by me in any of, my long
tramps among the mountains in search
of gold. On and on l went, the shadows
deepening around as l descended lower
and lower into its awful depths. A
feeling akin to fear crept~over me and
involuntarily my hand clasped a pistol
in my pocket, and again yielding to
some unknown power l hastily drew it
out, the silver glistening in the faint
light that still simmered down through
the overhanging foliage that lined the
almost perpendicular cliffs on either
side. Hastily and without seeming
cause l cooked the weapon, when a
voice. seemingly at my elbow, said, in
awesome zones:
If you fire you will kill him. Start
ing at the words, / turned and saw
nothing.
MY nerves now thoroughly unstrung
and the blood tingling in my veins like
molten lead, / raised the weapon and,
without taking aim, fired, Before the
echoes had died away the voice again
sounded at my side:
He is shot
Again like a flash I turned to dis
cover whence the warning voice, and
this time with the pistol raised, by in
stinct more than reason, and again I
saw-nothing. Wild with superstitious
fear and a dread of something-what,
/ knew not--I hurried on up the can
yon, which now seemed to widen as
advanced, and again the voice at my
side:
IF you continue onward you will see
him.
This time I seemed to realize that
there was nothing earthly in the voice,
and so without paying attention to the
warning, / sped as fast as my trem-
bling limbs would carry me on and on
over rocks, through tangled under
growth and leaping across narrow,
noisy streams that rushed like mad
things down the steep canyons bed.
How long / continued I cannot TO this
day tell, but soon the darkness became
more dense and I barely missed falling
over the great rocks that now impeded
my onward progress, when far in the
distance and deeper down the canyon
/ discerned a family cleaning light.
Just at that moment something
white and cleaning appeared at
sharp turn of the trail, and few steps
brought me face to face with a some
thing that caused me to sink limp and
helpless in the narrow path. There,
right before me, tall and CHASTITY, seem
ingly propped up against the wall, it's
face white and ghostly. across the brow
a broad white band which hung limp
and motionlpss to the ground, it's eyes
set and cleaning like twin sapphires,
its wolfish teeth protruding from be-
tween bloodless lips, was man! Or
what was it?
ut had been a man! But death had
claimed it, whatever it had been, and