The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1903-03-28

nerves; and the thought Of suddenly
waking out OF a sound sleep TO find
myself shut Ia by blaekness is quite
intolerable TO me.h 4, Go. (. =.
i Now this sentiment was sfflntterly
satfvariance with my conception sof
Andrew Dawley-a cold, practical
man OF business, andiof the. world,
as knew him4-that insteatf OF drop
ping the subject. as Knight n I've
done with a more sensitive linhn,s'I
pursued it somewhat farthsr. az
|. "As a child" / remarked, Il had a
great terror of the dark, but; it
ceased entirely when was cid
enough .to reason with myself.r ~
What WAS the course of your rea-
sonin6.s.r he askd. ~ a.
We'll, Thad become convinced that
supernatural beings did not exist
such as ghosts and goblins and
gnomes, and, on the other hand, /
knew that in well-protected house
there was practically no danger from
burglars or wild animals So, having
completely assured myself that there
was nothing in the dark, any more
than there was in the light, ceased
10 be afraid of It,"
Good logic" said Dawley, with
smile. 81 remember working out the
same conclusion when | was about
~ years old And it has held with
me ever since, until recently | discov-
cred a flaw in the reasoning. Oh, il
| doesn't apply to anyone else" he
added hastily, as l undertook to
speak. ut is purely personal, and 1
hesitate to disturb your equanimity
by describing it,"
Never fear" said /, with laugh.
These sentiments are largely based
on temperament, and / don't believe
anything is likely to change my point
of view"
'Our boyish logic" said he, after
pause, disposed of everything that
was obiectiye-from the outside
whether real or supernatural; but
il did not touch the subjective ele-
chief is fear itself. Now, / do not
believe | am physically a coward"
II know you are not" l interrupt
ed. II remember your capture of
that thief. He was armed, and re-
sisted fiercely, but you hung on"
YES" he said, "a man finds out
whether he is coward or not by
the time he reaches my age; and /
have good reason, to know that my
courage is not deficient. And / have
no superstitions-w disposes of
ghosts and supernatural things. So
there is nothing for me TO fear.
Here is where the reasoning faculty
stops, and somthing else you call il
temperament, do you?-begins. ! do
suffer from fear-at times to the
very edge Of my self-control. What
is IL? Why is IL? j believe that what
| fear is fear itself"
shook my head. "That statement
is meaningless to me" i said.
us it?" he asked almost wistful-
ly; cant you imagine being in terror
of great fright that may overtake
you some time even though you are
unable to anticipate a reasonable ex-
cuse therefor? Let me give il to
you in more concrete form. A year
or two ago l had dream of pc
culiarly vivid and impressive charac
ter. II was of my sudden awakening
here in bed, in this room, TO behold
man leaning over me. He was in
strange, uncouth dress mot of the
modern day. | should judge-and he
was surrounded by, and seemed TO
give out, fierce red light. He
shouted some words TO me- don't
know what they were; only, at the
sound Of them, such mighty and
overwhelming terror came upon me
that | lay paralyzed as to motion and
thought. Then / awoke, really awoke
this time, and / found my body wet
with perspiration, and my heart beat
ing so fiercely and with such great
pain that / feared some blood-vessel
must give way"
At this point i interrupted him, for
his voice was trembling with excite
ment.
"You say you are not supersti
tious," / said. "rhen you surely are
not going to allow yourself TO be af-
fected by dream. An overloaded
stomach is always likely TO disturb
the heart. Its rapid movement causes
n sensation exactly similar to fright,
q az, the wandering brain conjures up
never dream ont an sentUsAa-pid v.eu
of events eliminating in pistol shot,
and then awaken TO find that win
dow sash had dropped, and you had
pieced out the dream backwards, as
il were?"
"How do you account for my hay
ing this same dream, without an iota |
Of change, half dozen times since |
that first experienced" asked Dawley |
lit results" | answered with the
easy confidence one shows in dfspos-
ing of the problems of others, from
the profound impression the hrst
dream made upon your nina ana
memory"
lie smiled, and looked Mt me with
II ,tyag Then he