Year: 1872




"Oh, yes, sartinl Yes, yes-I believe
in Dreams" said old Silas Tafton. He
took another Whit at his pipe, and thon
added; zone of the greatest speculations
| eyer went into came of dream--a
wonderful dream. I'll tell you about it,"


And we listened to the old mans story
as follows


You remember, some of you, about the
great land speculations here in Maine
thirty years ago. Poor men-a very few
of them-were made suddenly rich and
rich men were made suddenly poor. 1
was living then in Grey. One day, old
Sam Whitney, of Oxford stopped at our
place, and showed us map of a new
town which had been laid out in Sagada-
hoe. On the map it looked beautiful
There were brooks, and lakes, and broad
plains of pine and oak, with streets all
laid out, and spots for churches and
school-houses marked in proper array.
! had a cousin living down that way, and
i concluded to go down and take look
found the town of Ellenville, which old
Whitney had showed me on his map, to
be a wild, worthless tract, all rocks and
swamp; but on the edge of this tract, in
another township, my cousin owned a
piece of good land, and bought a hun
hired and fifty acres of it, and made me
an excellent farm; and for that purchase
l was never sorry.


Meantime Ellenville was nearly all sold
in hundred-acre lots. The excitement
was at fever heat, and people bought
without once thinking of coming to look
at the land they were purchasing But
by and by the new owners began to look
up their property, and you can rest assur-
ed that they were blue set when they
were assembled on that territory. With
in all the limits of the mappedout town
ship there was not an acre that could be
cultivated. On the side that bordered my
farm it was craggy ledge of rocks; and
beyond that to the eastward the land set
tied away under the mud and water OF a
sunken slough. Some of these lots had
been sold as high as one pound per acre;
and few of them even higher than that
One poor fellow, named John Twist, from
Vermont, had paid one pound an acre for
lot bordering on my farm. On the map
1t had been set down as magnificent pine
forest, with beautiful river upon its bor-
der, on which was superb water-power.
John Twist bought it and paid for it, and
when he came to look at it he found it to
be mass of barren rocks, with here and
there clump of scrub oak and few
Norway pines, and for river he found a
water course which tumbled melted snow
over the crags in the spring, but which
was dry most of the year. did not see
the poor fellow when he came to survey
his property, but can imagine how he
felt.


After a while, however the excitement
passed off, and the sufferers of Ellenville
turned their backs upon the grave of
their speculative hopes On my farm l
prospered. My land was of the very best
quality; my wife was a true helpmate;
my crops were abundant; my stock
thrived; and | found myself at length
with goodly pile of money tied up in
my stocking.


One evening in early autumn, after our
crops had all been garnered, man, rid
ing sorry looking nag, pulled up before
our door. He was a well-looking man,
with a sedate and solemn face, and
dressed in black. 1t was safe enough to
conclude that he was minister, and so
he announced himself. He said he was
the Rev. Paul Meekmore; he was mis-
sionary, on a home circuit, and asked for
shelter for himself and his beast for the
night. OF course we welcomed him
cheerfully; and we were pleased with
him. He had travelled extensively, and
his conversation was entertaining and IN
structiye. Before we went to bed he
read chapter in the Bible, and made
prayer; and Betsey said to me, after he
had retired, that she had never heard such
beautiful prayer in her life


The next morning, at the breakfast ta-
BILE, Mr.. Meekmore was very sedate. He
asked blessing, and then only answered
such questions as were asked him. Final
ly Betsy told him she was afraid he had
not slept well. He smiled, and said he
had slept very well, saving the spell of a
curious dream which had visited him
three separate times during the night.
Betsy asked him if he would tell what it
was about.


ut was the old dream of hidden
wealth" he said with solemn look. 81
haven't dreamed such "A dream before.
sincesby a wonderful dream in South AT
rica led to the discovery of diamond
mine worth millions of dollars; and it
never profted me a penny. But such
wealth is not for me- need it not. Ny
calling hath higher and holier aims. And
yet this poor flesh is sometimes weak
enough to lust after the dross of gold and
silVerp'


By degrees we got from him that he
had dreamed of silver mine among the
crags of our hills. The mine seemed to
his vision utterly eXhaustless in the pre-
ciOus metal but he could not locate it,
Betsy, whose curiosity was aroused,
would have pushed the matter but Mr.
Meekmore finally shook his head more
solemnly than ever, and said that he
would rather forget the dream if he could.


When the missionary's horse was at the
door, and the owner was prepared to start
off, he informedus that he was bound to-
ward the Canada line, and that he
might return that way. OF course we
told him that our door would always be
open to him; and he promised that he
would abide with us again if he had an
opportunity.


In two weeks Mr.. Meekmore came
back. He had received a summons, he
said, from the Home Board, to return to
Boston and make immediate preparations
for winters campaign in the West.


The second evening in the society of
the reverend gentleman we enjoyed more
than we enjoyed the first. His fund of
anecdotes was literally exhaustless, and
yet an odor of sanctity and delicacy pre-
vaded all his speech. We urged that he
should spend few days with us, but he
could not. He said II would give him
great pleasure to do so, but his call TO the
new field of labor in the West was press
ing and imperative.


On the next morning, at the breakfast
table cur guest was even more sedate and
thoughtful than on the previous occasion;
and when questioned on the matter he
told us that he had been visited by the
same strange dream again.


"'Hhis time" he said, "the vision came
with wonderful distnctness. | not only
beheld the vast chambers of virgin silver,
but / saw an exact profile of the overly