Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-01-26
DREAM DIARY FAD.
Suggested that it be Cultivated in
Lien of Other ImbeciIities.

The terrors of country house visiting
are naturally lively and alarming enough;
but fertile ingenuity, assisted by art, has.
says Stuart Erskine, writing in the Court
Journal, conspired to render them a thou
sand times mere poignant and penetrat-
ing. 1t savors of righteousness to APP
ply the epithet of torture to these social
undertakings; but, really, what with peo-
pie who wish you to draw pigs with your
eyes shut, and importunate young ladies
clamorlng for pictures, autographs and
poems, the lot of the obliging country
house visitor of literary or artistic turn
of mind is not a happy one. And the
worst of 1T is, there is not even variety
IN the dlscomforts which these, no doubt,
Well-meanlng young people intiict on one.
Every girl has a pig-book, or, failing a
pig-book, another instrument of torture
IN the shape of volume in which the
unwilling victim is required to record his
most intimate sentiments. Thus a fash
Ion which, though triting and superfu-
Gus. yet has fundamentally nothing OBJ
JectIonable attaching to it, becomes, by
dint of repetition and a wcarisome mo-
notony, a positive nuisance The terrors
of the pig-boOk or sumptuously- bound vol
ume of artistic and literary indiscretions
Is quite as prolific a source of embarrass-
ment and alarm to the 0bliging visitor of
artistic tastes as the necessity of tipping
buffers and gamekeepers is said to be to
his impecunious, but happily less gifted,
contemporary. The writer continues.
My idea is that instead OF pig and those
other KIND of books now so alarmingly
prevalent among the fair sex. young la
dies who are not to be denied the keeping
an album of some kind or other should
start diaries of dreams.
In tins manner fashion which is be-
come 4 positive nuisance might be con-
verified into something really useful and
pleasing; for apart from the endless va
rcty Of dreams that fall to the lot of
mortals, there is this to consider of
namely. that the study of dreams is a
very interesting proceeding, and properly
and scientifically conducted cannot fail
10 prove of the utmost service to man
kind. OF course, it would never do to
encourage the lndIScriminate recording OF
dreams; and those only should keen
dre1mbooks whose temperaments pro
claim them to be persons mentally quail
flied To own such possessions Trifiur
and frivolous dreams and drcamcrS
should be severely discouraged; ana the
greatest care should be exercised 10 re-
cord all dreams in Il systematic and or
whose dreams are habitually vulgar or
concerned with commonplace topics
should never be invited to record his
midnight impressions in the lreambook.
Just as those WHO are mentally incapable
of arranging CT composing a coherent
dream-statement should be debarred the
privilege Of airing their visions. A
dream is 'ipso facfo'' Infinitely superior
to a pig or poem; and if the best re-
suits are obtained from this, my novel
suggestion. it is Imperative that the
dreambook or dream album he scientifi-
cally conducted, as well as jealousIy
guarded against the illusions OF such as
might unrOnGpiDyG sly toLsn off - ~
erary value or willfully aspcrse its true
haracter-T.0 Udon Globe