Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-19

n
- doubling Thomases of psv-
lNI chology. who are prone 70
s.or and who would otherwise surely
say that the Conference of my dreams
i due to overstudy and the subcon-
scious projection Of my knowledge of
evolutiou into my dreams. In the first
Mace, have never been a Jealous STU
dent. l graduated last of my class. I
cared more for athletics and-there is
no reason I should not confess it-more
for billiards
Further. l had no knowledge Of eyo-
luton until I was at college, whereas
IN nv childhood and youth l had al
ready lived In my dreams all the de-
tafls Of that other. long ago life. I will
ssy. however, that these details were
mixed and incoherent uAtil l came to
know the science of evolution. Evolu-
ton was the key. It gave the explana-
tion. gave sanity TO the pranks OF this
stsvistic brain of mine that modern
and normal harked back to a past so
remote az TO be contemporaneou with
the raw beginnings Of mankind.
For in this past know of, man. as we
today know him. did not exist. 1t was
in the period Of his becoming that
must have lived and had my being.
The commonest dream of my early
childhood was something like this: 1t
seemed that | was very small and that
Law curled up in a sort of nest of
tvigs and boughs. Sometimes l was
rng on my back
In this position it seemed that I spent
many hours, watching the play of sun
light on the foliage overhead and the
stirring Of the leaves by the wind. Of
ten the nest itself moved back and
forth when the wind was strong.
But always. while so lying in the
nest, was mastered by a feeling as of
tremendous space beneath me. l never
saw it, I never peered over the edge
Of the nest TO see. but | knew and
feared that space that lurked Just be-
meath NE and that ever threatened me
like nav of some all devouring mon
stpr
This dream. in which I was quies-
cent and which was more like condi-
ton than an experience of action, l
dreamed very often in my early child
hood But suddenly there would rush
into the very midst of it strange forms
and ferocious happenings. the thunder
and crashing of storm or unfamiliar
landscapes such as in my wake-aday
life had never seen. The result was
confusion and nightmare. l could com
prebend nothing of it. There was no
logic of sequence.
You see. I did not dream Consecu-
lively One moment I was a wee babe
Of the younger world lying in my tree
nest; the next moment l was a grown
man Of the younger world locked in
combat with the hideous Red Eye. and
the next moment l was creeping care
fully down TO the water hole in the
heat Of the day. Events years apart in
their occurrence in the younger world
occurred with me within the space Of
several minutes or seconds.
II was all a tumble but this tumble
shall not infict upon you. 1t was not
until I was a young man and had
dreamed many thousand times that
everything Strengthened out and be-
came clear and plain. Then it was that
got the Clew Of time and was able to
piece together events and actions in
their proper order Thus was | able to
reconstruct the vanished younger world
as it was at the time I lived in it-or
at the tine my other self lived in it.
The distinction does not matter, for /.
too, the modern man. have gone back
and lived that early life in the com
pany Of my other self.
For your convenience, since this is to
be no sociological screed. l shall frame
together the different events into a
comprehensive story. i For there is a
certain thread of continuity and hap
lening that runs through all the
Dreams. There is my friendship with
Lop Ear, for instance. Also there are
the enmity Of Red Eye and the love Of
me Swift One. Taking it all in all, a
larry coherent and interesting story, |
am sure you will agree.
DO not remember much Of my
mother. Possibly the earliest recollec-
uon | have Of her-and certainly the
saarpest-is the following: 1t seemed
was lying on the ground. l was
somewhat older than during the nest
Gays but still helpless. I rolled about