The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-16

subject. The first answer, then. to the question, What Is the cause of dreams? Is that they were agents of the Divine Being, who for wise purposes sent them. mean not to say that this is scientific answer.
 The view most generally held by schol- ars is that in sleep there is loss of con- trol of the operations of the mind; men, tai activity still proceeding. but with tho will off guard. Therefore, thoughts como and go without guidance. and, being free of control form themselves Into all man. ner of whimsical, fantastic, grotesque, couical and tragical images and combl- nations. The will being inactive, the sleeper is at the mercy of the other men tai faculties at play, which then per petrate unspeakable pranks. As school boys yield to their exurberant mischief in the absence of the master. turning desks upside down and hurling hats and books in all directions, so. the merry scamps of Dreamland, the frolicsome faculties, in the absence of the will, turn the world upside down and treat us as they please. They frighten us; they hurry us through space at alarming speed to distant lands; they lead us to novels of poverty or to palaces of splendor; sometimes they bind our hands and feet and start towards us a piunEing locomotive and railroad train, or some ferocious animal, or hag, or giant whose velocity no power can stay. They scatter untold wealth before the helpless sleeper, which he no sooner picks up than 1t is gone, leaving him like the little child in the story: When asked the cause of his tears, the child replied, T dreamt that Santa Claus brought me two freezers of ice cream, one of ber- miller and one of strawberry and jess as wuz about to eat 'em, wake up. boo hoo"
 The incongruity of some dreams may be accounted for upon the hypothesis of the activity of memory and the fantastic mo- tons of the faculty of imagination in sleep. That which ws have received into the realm of memory is never absolutely lost therefrom, say the psychologists. What . eonglomssats mass of things, then, are stored away in tho average brain. In sleep the mischief-makers rum-
 
 thus stored away. Just as children on rainy days delight to 70 into tho old lumber room or to the attic and dress themselves up in grandmsther's old fashioned hnery; and. out of lace night caps or ancient bonnets, come to your door and show their shaking ringlets. their laughing eyes and their teeth of pearl; so in dreams there is the strang- est inconsruity. because memory holds . world of individual. family and neshbor- hood history which is subsidized in sleep, but without any orderly sequence You and another boy may be playing marbles in your sleep; suddenly 1t will dawn upon you that the other boy is your grand father. You have been reading one of tho ancient classics in your waking hours, and now that you are asleep you dnd yourself talking with Socrates, who pres .Antly turns out to be your old college Professor. Everybody has had some such experience.
 The laws of association seem to require less to excite them into activity in sleep than in waking hours; therefore, memory seems to act with greater rapidity in the same condition. Since l began to write this series of papers have had a curious illustration of this fact in . dream, which was about as follows;
 was in small boat, slowly gliding over . large body of blue water. There were several people with me. but only ono whose face 1 had ever seen before. Al we sailed over the calm, beautiful bay, we oa1ns to . point of . bank whsrsop thers was . very attractive building. end surroundings of rare beauty; the eslsrp red and green, attracted my atssuttsn and seemed everywhere. Our boat saSaea out of the wind and was hov yesasnatIy drtftins. At this point souAs enc aslEsd mo to give the philosophy ef what Is osaeA the ''maer-tsw" preceded to explain tho phsnonsnou, and then sa4d. "At fortresS Monroe tbsre is . terrific under-'; but could not finish my sentence, for at that moment one of the ladies In the party was struggling iu the uaAaA 1aaneA svegesasa . peseae he&