The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1903-07-28
VICTIM OF A DREAM.

IN New York city, specialist in ner-
yous diseases told the following story
OF case that he is treating, and the
other doctors present agreed that ii
was one of the most remarkable they
had ever heard of.
"A short time ago. said the doctor
"a man called on me and ssled me
il had ever heard of a mans having
bad dream so often that II finally
made wreck Of hin. told him that
had had patients who had bad dreams,
but had generally managed to trace
the trouble to over-indulgences of one
kind or another
well he said, that isn't my case.
Now 1 want you to take a good look
at me. am big, strong man, am /
not?'
You certainly are said.
And you don't see any indications
of excessive dissipation about me, do
you?'
HE was a fine specimen Of health.
save for some lines in his face which
I attributed 10 his recent trouble /
told him that he didn't appear to be
a man who had let his stomach get
away with him.
~'Very we'll he continued. I'll take
it for granted that you don't think
have any mental trouble. for have
not. The fact of the matter is that
I am a wreck as the result of bad
dream that comes to me almost every
night.
AT each recurrence of this dream
my horror of the situation in which
II places me gets worse. fight. strug-
gle and am finally overcome. and when
I wake up / generally find myself in
some remote part of the room, a ply
steal and mental wreck.
wow any man could stand dream
like this once in awhile. but TO get it
right along is too much ] had II first
about month ago During that first
week had ii three times
THE next week had it four times
and during the past three nights had
it every night cannot attend TO bust
ness. ! am nervous and exhausted. and
every night when go to bed it is with
the horror of what the next few hours
have in store for me.
The entire thing is a mystery to
me- ] never suffer from insomnia. and
before this dream came to me hadn't
any more bad dreams than fall to
the average man Now what am I go
ing to do? It's nervous prostration
for me unless l do something
had many queer cases. but this was
the queerest / told him that would
like to know all about the dream, and
here's the story be told me:
- go TO bed ard fall asleep ike
a child. Sometimes it is several hours
before the dream comes TO me What
happens is hard to tell you. for while
it is clear TO my mind. cannot express
the horror of it in words.
1T begins a way. way off. and it
begins with small whirling spot
When I first see il I cannot see thatit is
whirling. for it is too far away But
/ know that it is going around and
around and that it is coming in my
direction. know that IT Is huge
revolving mass. shaped like a cone.
that the apex of the cone is down to
ward the earth and that just at its end
is a small hole.
al cannot see any of these things at
first but I know they are there. al
though my enemy is still far off in
space. The approach is very gradual.
the motive power coming from the
V.-s. = =.
fer fortunes know it IS coming for
me and that must resist it. I know
that resistance Is futile. too, but still
/ feel that I must fight.
Closer and closer it comes. larger
and larger it grows. swifter and swift
er it goes around and around and then
as it towers over me realize that the
swift revolutions are creating a sue
tiOn and that 1t is trying to draw
me into that hole. which 1 cannot
see and vet which I know is there. 1
know it is a little hole. that scarcely
a hand can be pushed through 1t. and
vet l am drawn closer aud closer to
it. by power that is greater than
any can oppose TO it.
NtEHE dAlCI uiEut nave I9u2Ht
this thing, night after night Ihave lost
the fight. Each night now realize
that to fight is vain. ard vet know I
must fight. fight to the bitter end and
never give mp until I am drawn through
that hole by the rushing wind. And
all the time there is horror to it
that I cannot explain am terrified
1 feel fear that no man ever felt.
SIN the end am drawn under.
Slowly but surely am sucked MP
through the hole. Tt is an agonizing
hour; my bones crack. my heart
thumps. nv organs are forced out of
place. and I feel as though 1 must be
crushed to death.
FINALLY I am through. and then l
can feel the cone moving upward again.
1t has come for me. got me and Is going
back into space with me- am whirled
around inside the cone. but somehow
I gradually feel myself rising to the
top.
land in the end reach the top.
the edge of the bowl of the cone. /
make dozen fierce revolutions and
az, ,be,, hurled ont into srara "a