The sun., 1918-09-02
A DREAMS INNER WHEEL.
The Illusion Within the Illusion and
Seeming More Real.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SUN-Sn: While
the retelling OF dreams Is not always
interesting, one I have had recently
appears to me worth the attention Of
psychologists. although 1t Is Of course
possible that such a dream Is not I'M
common. Freuds book-which is a
mere tumble of words-does not. so far
as can now recall. record the phenom-
enon I am about to record. But this Is
the only book on dreams that l have
| read. and my experience may be an old
story in other dream literature.
dreamed that I was living In a GER
tain summer cottage-apparently there
on a vacation-and the nearest habita-
ton to this place was a roadhouse.
which was exactly eighteen miles away.
over country roads-dirt roads they
were. very dusty and rutty. but sur
rounded by delightful scenery. To get
from the cottage to the roadhouse l al
ways had to walk. for. while there were
plenty OF motor cars. and had one my
self, for some reason | never could use
them. they were always broken down.
And so, in my dream, | made the jour
ney on foot.
remember distinctly that became
very tired. and yet this tired feeling
| was not unpleasant, for / took great
| pleasure In the numerous vistas and the
| various stretches of wood. When I ar
rived at the roadhouse, a curious thing
happened. There were a number of peo-
pie there whom l quite distinctly re-
membered to have seen before. One OF
these was the proprietor OF the road.
house, a rather stout man with a Teu.
tonic face, who wore a white apron and
a square skull cap OF paper. not unlike
! one of the characters in The Pirates
OF Penzance," which I suppose l have
| not seen for twenty-five years.
! At the time, remember. ! was moi
quite sure OF the distance l had walked
and We fell into a discussion, He asked
me particularly the way l had come
and while my description was a trifs
ncoherent-that is, not clear to my mind
afterward-I distinctly recall his MAX
| ing the positive MISUNDERSTANDING his
! head quite emphatically-that It wa,
| Just eighteen miles. This was the first
intimatiop l had OF the actual distance
the word eighteen" as he repeated 1t
becoming quite fixed in my memory
Then ! said to myself (still in my
dreamy. Yes, that Is so. Now that yoI
mention it, remember that did make
this journey once before, and the dis
tance was eighteen miles"
| After this the dream faded away into
a mere cloud. and eventually ! awoke
But the dream was very vivid, and fel
to thinking Of II very pleasantly. go
ing over the details, and especially tn,
incidents OF my walk through the woods
And then. quite suddenly and irresistibly
while l lay there awake there came t
me the positive recollection of anothe
dream l had had a long time ago.
might have been years-in which | hac
been In exactly that same situation
That Is to say, in my hrst dream. hat
visited the roadhouse, In some manne
that was vague. and that upon this for
mer occasion I had wondered at the dis
lance, but had not known II. And now
after long interval OF time the frs
dream had had became united will
the second dream in such a manner
that the missing information about tn,
distance had been supplied.
The question that naturally occur.
Is, How could ! be sure that the frs
dream was only an illusion7 Might Il
not be In reality a part Of the second
! am positive It was not. yet l cannot
of course supply any evidence. All
can say is that dreams that ] did no
at all recollect Immediately afterwart
have come TO me wildly after Ions
periods OF time, and this first dream
came to me now in that way. Freut
states in his book that this Is not al
uncommon experience. The two dream
were apparently one. But the last par
did not take place until a long interva
OF waking consciousness. crowded will
tnnumerable incidents, had interviewed.
T, l.. NJ.
GLEN RIDGE. n. j., August 81