Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-06-03
DREAMS NOT OF HOME
SOLDIERS Have Nightmares of shells
mud Might Attacks.

oud Night Attacks.
The popular idea of the soldiers dream,
as represented by the colored supple
ments of our weekly periodicals. would
appear from the statements of men who
have como home from the front, to be
as rallacious as It Is delightful. The
soldiers dream. according to the supple
ment artist. is dream OF home. He
sees in vision the old cottage with the
roses climbing M the wall where he
spent so many happy. peaceful days "a
a lad. He sees his old mother and father,
halo in their longevity, comfortably on
sconsed on either side Of the Fireplace
with or without FREE; he sees his sweet
heart tor is It his sister?), clad in pink.
setting the knives and forks for dinner:
he sees II small child with golden curls
playing with cat and a part-colored
ball: and he sees himself coming in at
the door. bronzed and handsome with
eager arms outstretched to embrace the
folk "" left behind him. The dream var
los nr course with the supplement- but
It is always q dream OF home. dream
rooted in the sentiment that would ap-
pear to go hand-r- hand with the three
color process. And that IN just where
the editor and artists who arc respon-
sble for these hcart-strng pulers make
the mistake.
1t appears that ono Of the commonest
drca ms is that of sudden call to arms.
The dreamer imagines that he has been
suddenly awakened from his sleep. and
that all his comrades are busy pulling on
their clothes lie follows sut-but he
cannot find his gun. or else some article
of attire He begins to search for II.
while the others drift away. H., goes on
searching for it, suffering mental
agony more and more intense as every
moment flies by, but he can find it no
where AZ last he is left alone, still
searching. searching. That is a
real soldiers dream. 1t is not good
subject for supplement. 1t brings home
to ono too wildly the harassing ankle
ties of war.
another common dream, according to
a correspondent OF the Lancet is con-
cerned with live shells The dreamer
sees shell HURTING through the air. or
he finds it in his bed. For some reason
he Is unah to move. All he can do is
to stare and wait-wait for the shell to
burst as it will clearly burst before an
other second has gone by. and send him
to the land Of kingdom come. Every
one in the course Of their dreaming
must have met with this extraordinary
inability TO perform some perfectly sim
pie action at a critical moment 1t is
the basis of a large percentage OF night
mares. How many Nightmares, too. de-
pend on the fever,sh attempt TO accom-
plish some important piece Of work be-
fore the fall OF the thunderbolt. Several
soldiers have drea med that an enemy is
dashing down upon them. while their
bayonets. which they are unable to
withdraw. have been rooted in the body
of German adversary.
It must not be thought that il is the
nervous and neurotic soldiers who are
given to these terrifying dreams APP
pa rently tho bravest are subject to them.
Sometimes they become somna mbulsts.
and wander about in search Of their reg
iments. For one of the greatest fears by
which a soldier is haunted is that he
may lose contact with his regi lie
ina g1nes that he is all alone, that he is
stealing through some forest in an at
tempt to reion his comrades. or that he
is wandering through a bewildering and
intricate network OF deserted trenches,
at Hampton court.
The war dreams OF those at homeland
we have all had our war drcams-are
singularly tame In comparison, though
some of these, Of course, have a throb
of terror IN them Often, howeve., the
dreamer at home remains as much a
spectator In the face of danger ms he re-
mains while reading some vivid news
paper account OF a great battle. The
writer Of this article has twice dreamed
Of Zeppelin raids, but on neither occasion
had he the slightest desire to seek safety
in cellars. He remained a calm and ex-
| tremely interested member Of an audi
ence, though once d Zeppelin came right
| mp to his window and one OF the Ger
| man airmen thrust his head inside. On
another occasion he saw the entry OF the
Germans into London along the embank-
ment while he was taking part in the
Oxford and Cambridge cricket match In
Spring gardens, The triumph OF Ger
many left him completely unaffected the
only point that troubled his mind was
whether II was good form To go on
playing while the Germans marched
grmly by the riverside toward Westmin-
! ster-1Dndon Globe.