The Argosy — page 353: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Dreams of One’s Own Friends. 337 strange poetic suggestion that we trust it will charm our readers as it charmed ourselves when we heard it from the lips of the very dreamer himself. He was an old family friend of ours. A man without guile, and with that sweet childlikeness of character which may be truly de- scribed as “of the Kingdom of Heaven.” He had been always a poor man, working daily at an ill-paid Government post to maintain his little domestic circle, and living a daily round as innocent and cheerful as that of the best and purest of Charles Dickens’s elderly men-characters. We were talking once of some occurrences of an alleged super- natural character, and he was very ready to admit that there is much in earth and heaven which our philosophy had not yet explained. He had had one very strange experience himself, he said, and proceeded to recount it as follows :— In his house, as a young married man, there had lived a youthful sister—Mary—of whom he spoke with much affectionate remem- brance. This sister died in her early womanhood. Our old friend’s favourite companion, of his own sex, was a young naval officer of great promise. The vessel in which this young man served was presently selected to go to the East on some expedition of official scientific enquiry. Our old friend told us exactly what this expedition was—but this detail, not bearing exactly on the story, has unfortunately escaped my memory. The young man said good- bye to his acquaintances, promised duly to communicate with them, and went off in the full flush of youthful spirits and ambition. Some time after his departure our old friend, retiring to rest as usual after one of his harmless and industrious days, had a dream so vivid and so interesting that when he awoke he immediately related it to his wife. He dreamed that he walked on the shore of a large lake. It was but a dreary scene. The sluggish waters were rock-bound and the vegetation sparse and withered. The path where he trod was a rough and narrow one, winding about among the rocks. Walking ahead of him he saw the figure of Mary, the dead sister. And in his dream he seemed to remember that she was dead, but was not at all surprised at her appearance on the scene. Suddenly, rising as it were from the dull waters of the lake, he saw his dear friend, the young naval lieutenant. The latter came scrambling up over the boulders, not noticing his beloved comrade, intent only on over- taking Mary At the sound of his steps she turned. The two greeted each other with great joy, and, the young man linking her arm through his, they hastened along together, apparently still quite oblivious of the presence and observation of our old friend. He, on his part, as he simply expressed it, seemed in his sleep only to realise “the fun of the thing,” and tried hard to overtake them to indulge in a little » brotherly VOL. XLVI, EOMRRIC OOO SS (GO) i —