Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-05-22
CHAPTER q.

| wise surely say that the conference OF
| my dreams is due to overStudy and
the subconscious projection of my
| knowledge of evolution into my
dreams. In the first place. have new
er been a Jealous student | gradual
ed last of my class. cared more for
athletics and-there is no reason |
should not confess it-more for bill
lizards. ...
Further, / had no knowledge of evo-
luton until | was at college, whereas
| in my childhood and youth | had al
ready lived in my dreams all the de-
tails of that other, long ago life. will
say, however, that these details were
mixed and incoherent until | came to
know the science Of evolution. Evolu-
ton was the key. 1t gave the explana-
| ton, gave sanity to the pranks of this
atavistic brain of mine shat, modern
and normal, harked back to a past so
remote as to be contemporaneous 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
lay curled up In a sort of nest of
twigs and boughs. Sometimes | was
lying on my back. 49,. =
In this position it seemed that /
spent many hours, watching the play
of sunlight on the foliage overhead
and the stirring of the leaves by the
wind. Often 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. never
saw 1t, | never peered over the edge
of the nest to see, but | knew and
feared that space that lurked just be-
meath me and that ever threatened me
like a NAV of some all deyouring
monster. r.:
This dream, in which was quies.
cent and which was more like condi-
ton than an experience of action,
dreamed very often in my early child
hood But suddenly there would rush
into the very midst of 1t strange forms
and ferocious happenings, the thunder
and crashing of storm or unfamiliar
landscapes such as in my wake-a-day
life had never seen. The result was
confusion and nightmare. l could COM
prehend nothing of it There was no
logic Of sequence. ...:
You see, I did not dream conseeu.
lively. One moment l was a wee babe
of the younger world lying in my
nest; the next moment was grown
man of the younger world locked in
combat with the hideous Red Eye, and
the next moment 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. "
1t was all tumble, but this tumble
shall not infiict upon you. 1t was not
until 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 lived in it
or at the time 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
company of my other self.
For your convenience. since this is
to be no sociological screed, shall
frame together the different events
into a comprehensive story. For there
is a certain thread of continuity and
happening 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
the Swift. One. Taking it all in all,
fairly coherent and interesting story,
| am sure you will agree.
do not remember much OF my
mother Possibly the earliest recollec-
ton | have of her-and certainly the
sharpest-is the following: 1t seemed
| was lying on the ground. l was
somewhat older than during the nest
days, but still helpless. rolled about
in the dry leaves, playing with them
and making grooming, rasping noises
in my throat. -.... =. "
Suddenly / heard a sound. | sat up
right and listened. | made no move
ment. The little noises died down in
my throat, and l sat as one pertified.
The sound drew closer. 1t was like
the grunt of a pig. Then | began to
hear the sounds caused by the moving
of a body through the brush. Next l
saw the ferns agitated by the passage
of the body. Then the ferns parted,
and saw cleaning eyes, long snout
and white tusks. :..
It was a wild boar. He peered at
me curiously. He grunte6 once or
twice and shifted his weight from one
foreleg to the other, at the same time
moving his head from side to side and
swaying the ferns. Still sat as one
petrified, my eyes unblinking as l star
ed at him, fear eating at my heart.
1t seemed that this movelessness and
silence on my part was what was ex-
pected of me- | was not to cry out in
tho fare of fear II was q dictate or