The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1908-07-03
from the New York Tribune

would have ruined the country, anu
| he knew of no important results
| from it. The President said that per-
haps he should not altogether agree
with him, but whatever might be the
facts his singular dream preceded
that fight. Victory did not always
follow the dream. but the event and
results were very important. Great
events did indeed follow. Within a
few hours the man who narrated his
dream was assassinated, and the
murder which closed forever his
earthly career affected for years, and
perhaps forever. the welfare of the
country.
In this example it is not difficult
to account for the modus operandi of
| the presentiment From the very be-
ginning of his Presidency Mr.. Lin
coin had been constantly subjected
to the threats of his enemies and the
| warnings of his friends. The threats
came in every form; his mail was in.
tested with brutal and vulgar men,
aces, most anonymous. The warn
| ings were not less numerous. He
knew, indeed, that indictments TO
murder him were not uncommon.
What wonder, then. that his dreams
should be haunted by gloomy pic
lures, generally interpreted as fore.
bodings of death.
There are also presentiments OF
good, but we hear less of them, be.
cause, as rule, they are disappoint'
ed. The reader will find no difficulty
to charge the memory with abundant
proofs of the prevalence but also the
unreliability of such presentiments
Who has not some time in his life
felt, without any apparent cause
arise in his heart a hope bordering
on conviction of getting rich by one
of those sudden fortunes that aston.
ish the world, or of obtaining the pc.
sition craved for or having his salary
raised by his employer, or similar
foolish hopes, to be doomed to disap.
pointment? To give only one histor.
ical example of a good though unful
filled presentiment: The great Tu
renne exclaimed: Il do not mean tc
be killed to-day" but few moments
afterward he was struck down by
cannon ball.
Supposing, then the occurrence oil
presentiments be firmly established
and the cases as adduced by the au.
thors proven beyond doubt, we car
still discount by good deal the part
played by divination and the super
natural in the phenomenon. Thus
with regard to the extraordinary
tales told of presentiments on the eve
of battle, it is not wonderful at all
that soldiers and sailors, provertially
superstitious, should sometimes il
moments of depression conclude thai
they would die in the next battle
and that under the given circum.
stances their presentiment should
sometimes also happen to come true
Nor does the explanation of numer
Gus other fatal presentiments require
the intervention of some so far un
discovered mysterious power and fac
ulty of the mind. The human mind
is a strange machine, and when ex,
cited by intense anxiety and wound
up to its highest pitch by despair OF
fear it is no hard matter to conjure
up those signs and tokens which
are now considered as sure and fata!
representations of the worst human
calamities. In such state the or.
derlng OF a requiem by a stranger
may easily become to a Mozart ar
omen of sufficient magnitude to cause
his dissolution. And as evil over.
takes the majority of mankind, such
general forebodings are pretty Ger.
tain of fulfilment. And it may also
be urged that a person thus fatally
possessed may become so careless of
existence as thereby to insure his de.
struction.
However this be, the divination OF
future events, in ones own or anoth.
ers life, that makes some PRESENT..
ments so remarkable is ultimately
nothing but the result of instructive
reasoning applied to probable events.
deduction drawn from known facts.
from the motives to be feared or
hoped for. Some temperaments. es.
pecially among women, are capable
OF discerning the slightest indications
that would pass unnoticed by others.
Thus. in great number of cases the
presentiment is but a foresight based
upon a nice intuition of the circum.
stances; what is taken for an internal
voice is but we'll done calculation.
the other cases must be ranged
among the superstitions. The great.
est calamities which have befallen
most persons have come without anv
warning whatever, except such as
could be inferred from existing situa.
lions. All mankind has had to RELY
upon experience, foresight and guild
ance by ordinary sagacity. The oc.
casional fulfilment of dreams. pre.
monitions, visions and so-called inner
voices are at best condolences, and
the only inner voice which, when fol.
lowed, will always lead us right is
the voice of reason.