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PART III

SEEING WITH THE MIND'S EYE

SECTION I. DESCRIBING FROM MEMORY

There are few of us who have not at times been subject to dreams which have seemed so real that it has been hard to shake off their impression. Some have been pursued by a certain definite kind of bad dream; night after night we have met strange creatures, or we have fallen from great heights, to wake just as we were about to strike the ground. Some have had certain pleasant dreams, which became, so to say, habitual. Some, perhaps, have dreamed poetry, but failed to remember it after waking. There is one remarkable instance of a beautiful poem-“Kubla Khan”—which came to Samuel Taylor Coleridge in a dream. When he woke he began writing it down, but was interrupted and was never able to finish the fragment. You will find the beginning of it on page 138. Robert Louis Stevenson sometimes dreamed. out stories, which were characterized by clearness of detail, and neatness of structure.

The following is Stevenson's account of his dreams when he was a youth, before his mind was trained in the craft of story-telling. He was, it should be said, of a nervous constitution, and was never in good health.

DREAMS

Upon these grounds, there are some of us who claim to have lived longer and more richly than our neighbors; when they lay asleep they claim they were still active; and among

the treasures of memory that all men review for their amusement, they count in no second place the harvests of their dreams. There is one of this kind whom I have in my eye, and whose case is perhaps unusual enough to be described. He was from a child an ardent and uncomfortable dreamer. When he had a touch of fever at night, and the room swelled and shrank, and his clothes, hanging on a nail, now loomed up instant to the bigness of a church, and now drew away into a horror of infinite distance and infinite littleness, the poor soul was very well aware of what must follow, and struggled hard against the approaches of that slumber which was the beginning of sorrows. But his struggles were in vain; sooner or later the night-hag would have him by the throat, and pluck him; struggling and screaming, from his sleep. His dreams were at times commonplace enough, at times very strange; at times they were almost formless; he would be haunted, for instance, by nothing more definite than a certain hue of brown, which he did not mind in the least while he was awake, but feared and loathed while he was dreaming; at times, again, they took on every detail of circumstance, as when once he supposed he must swallow the populous world, and awoke screaming with the horror of the thought.

These were extremely poor experiences, on the whole; and at that time of life my dreamer would have very willingly parted with his power of dreams. But presently, in the course of his growth, the cries and physical contortions passed away, seemingly forever; his visions were still for the most part miserable, but they were more constantly supported; and he would awake with no more extreme symptom than a flying heart, a freezing scalp, cold sweats, and the speechless midnight fear. His dreams, too, as befitted a mind better stocked with particulars, became more circumstantial, and had more the air and continuity of life. The look of the world beginning to take hold on his attention, scenery came to play a part in his sleeping as well as his waking thoughts, so that he could take long uneventful journeys and see strange towns and beautiful places as he lay in bed. And, what is more significant, an odd taste that he had for the Georgian costume and for stories laid in that period of English history, began to rule the features of his

dreams; so that he masqueraded there in a three-cornered hat, and was much engaged with Jacobite conspiracy between the hour for bed and that for breakfast. About the same time he began to read in his dreams-tales, for the most part, and for the most part after the manner of G. P. R. James, but so incredibly more vivid and moving than any printed book, that he has ever since been malcontent with literature.

"A Chapter on Dreams," Robert Louis Stevenson.

Exercises

I. ORAL. What are the causes of dreams? Have you heard of any superstitition as to their meaning? Have you read of any cases where dreams have influenced a man's life? Write a brief theme telling some of your own dreams.

2.

REFERENCES FOR SUGGESTIVE READING

"The Dream of Clarence," "Richard Third. Byron: "The Dream." "Jacob's Dream," in Genesis. Jack London: "Before Adam."

SECTION II. DESCRIBING FROM MEMORY

Few writers of fiction describe scenes more vividly, with more faithful detail, than did Charles Dickens. When we have read one of his books we know the homes of his characters as well as if we had seen them. The Perrybingles' kitchen, the toymaker's shop, we can see as if we were in them. Why was Dickens able to make us see all this? Because he had a remarkably accurate observation, and a remarkably accurate memory. He himself said that he never went into a room, even for a few moments, that he did not remember what the room contained. And this power is characteristic of most great writers. Men of thought, philosophers and mathematicians, often pay little attention to their surroundings; they are absent-minded, like Archimedes; but the writer is usually, as a great French man of let

ters said of himself, "a man for whom the visible world exists."

Exercises

ORAL OR WRITTEN. Describe four of the following scenes as fully and accurately as you can, describing color as well as form:

I. Describe the breakfast table this morning.

2.

Describe what you saw from your seat in church Sunday morning.

3. Describe the view from your window.

4. Describe the front of your house.

5. Describe Launcelot as he rode by to Camelot; the Lady of Shalott in her room; what she saw as she looked from her window; describe her in the boat drifting down to Camelot. See the picture opposite page 80.

6. Describe Queen Mab's coach; the Feast of Oberon; the fairies' funeral.

7. Describe a favorite character from fiction: Huckleberry Finn, or King Arthur, or Leatherstocking, or The Red Cross Knight, or any other.

8. Describe some familiar flower or tree or animal.

9. Describe what Enoch Arden saw as he sat on the cliff watching for a ship.

IO. Describe the room of Priscilla; of John Alden.

II. Describe Miles Standish, Rip Van Winkle, his wife, his dog; Ichabod Crane.

SECTION III. FORECASTING CURRENT EVENTS

It has been well said that the secret of success is interest. "He who takes interest in a thing, will invariably develop a good memory regarding everything in relation to that thing. He will be eloquent on it; he will eventually prove inventive, at any rate suggestive, with regard to it. The keener the interest, the more likely is the person entertain

ing it to advance knowledge, to do something striking and successful concerning the object of his interest.

"Now a good way of increasing your interest and at the same time increasing your power to think, is the following: Whenever you read something in your daily paper which, either as a political or social event, arrests your momentary attention, try to think out how it will develop in the near future, by force of your own reflections. Thus, e. g., at present there is a conflict between Turkey and Great Britain in reference to the boundary of Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula. Try to place yourself, first on the standpoint of the Turk, arguing out his case and possible rights as completely as you can; then argue out the case from the standpoint of Great Britain; finally, come to a conclusion; bring yourself to predict the result of the conflict.

"In doing so, you will at once take a more intense interest in the Anglo-Turkish conflict. By acquiring that interest, you will learn to view with attention phases of life different from your own. You will learn to see. Once you have made some headway in this great art of seeing things and into things, you have secured possession of one of the most essential factors of success."

"Success Among Men," Emil Reich.

Exercises

I. Read in a newspaper, or "The Outlook," or "The Review of Reviews" an account of one or two situations important now.

2. What is the gist of the situation in each of these cases? the most important actors in it? the most important conditions? What are the possible results? What lines of action are possible to the actors in the case? What would you do if you were one of them?

3. Write a theme, summing up a situation briefly, and telling how you think the matter will come out. Give the reasons for your conjecture.

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