Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-07
THE DAILY CHIT-CHAT.
By Ruth Cameron

II all the wise and clever sayings, all
the successful solutions of vexed prob
lens. all the admirable literary produc-
tons and brilliant plans and ideas which
| come to us in that beautiful borderland
| time between waking and sleeping, could
| only be remembered and utilized in all
their pristine brilliancy the next morn
| ing, what a wonderful world of clever
people this would be.
There is certain question which l have
never solved entirely to my satisfaction
perhaps you will be glad to know that
questions really do exist which 1 do not
| feel competent to decide-and that is
| whether all these thoughts really are so
| tremendously brilliant, and seem foolish
the next morning only because We cannot
| fully recall them, or whether they really
| are foolish and seem so brilliant only be-
cause they come to us when we are half
| asleep and not capable of judging clearly.
personally, l am inclined to the latter
rather pessimistic hypothesis. but l know
many people who hold the former. One
very persistent optimist. for instance, who
was writer by profession and was in
| the habit of thinking of the most Won
derful plots ard the wittiest converse
| tons for his characters just as he drop
rcd off to sleep. none of which he could
i remember the next morning, always used
to argue with me that the ideas really
We're wonderful, and If he could only
have stenographer handy to take them
down he could surely have every mag
| azine in the country eager for his stories.
| Incidentally, this person has since mar
! ried a. steno2rapher, so | suppose we
| may expect some wonderful productions
| from his pen in the near future.
Coleridee, as you Will remember,
brought that beautiful fragment. Kubia
Khan, back from dreamland with him.
Who knows but that dreams and their
twin sisters, the DO, derland inspirations
| may not be wonderful. undeveloped
source of power and efficiency which tie
psychologist shall some day teach us to
| utilize? Isn't this an opportunity for the
efficiency engineer to iona forces with the
psychologist and find some way by Whicl,
we can crystalline these brilliant ideas
SO that they will stand the strain OF
morning light without disappearing?
Or, are they like those beautiful little
dew-spangled cobwebs that the summer
| night lays on the Srass-in the days o.
| long sGo ! used to pretend that these
| We're jeWel-spangled scarfs which the
fairies wore in the intervals of the dance,
and sometimes left behind in their haste
| when they fled at dawn-are these Dor
derland inspirations, I say, as incapable
of retaining their form and beauty un-
der the sunlight as the fairies scarfs?
| You see ! am back again to my orig
cannot seem to escape unless some wiser
friend can give me the clue that will lead
unlike poor Rosamond's-to the light of
day.
| Now what on earth does ali this
mean?' l can hear some pra ctical person
exclaiming. There must have been
something the matter with Ruth when
she wrote that
Cheer up, my friend, it may not please
you, but / know there will be some fool
isl1 dreamer like myself who will know
what I'm trying to say. You see, | was
just trying to put some of those border
land thoughts on paper. And tomorrow,
| | promise you, / shall be as practical as
you please.