What They Say in New England/Dreams

by Clifton Johnson

Dreams
. .

If you dream of falling, and are awakened by the fancied jar of landing, it is a sign that you are going to be sick. If, however, you awake while still in mid-air, you may be assured you will continue in good health.

Tell your dreams, and you will keep on dreaming. To tell the dreams cultivates a habit of remembering what is dreamed; and that is probably the only effect, though it may apparently seem to make the teller have more dreams.

Dream of seeing fresh beef, and you will soon hear of a friend who is sick.

If you dream of water, it is a sign of sickness.

If you dream of eating, it is a sign that you are going to be sick.

One woman says, “Well, I always know I’m goin’ to be sick when I dream I can’t get the table set. When I dream there’s so many here I can’t get my work done, I always have a sick spell.”

It used to be said that if a dream was sufficiently vivid to make the dreamer notice and remember it, there was some occult significance in it that was worthy of study.

Dreams are often thought to contain information. Sometimes the information is in a realistic, sometimes in a symbolic form. Frequently the dreams contain prophetic warnings. Many stilt believe n dreams to a limited degree. The following are examples of what are repeated as dreams of proved significance. An old lady tells the first:—

“It was after midnight, and I was dreaming a dream about a terrible thunder-storm, It grew worse and worse till there was one clap so loud it seemed as if the skies had broken to pieces. Right after it I woke up, and I heard a knock on the outside door of the sitting-room. I knew that instant what my dream meant and who was there. It was Charlie I went to the door and it was. There he had been gone seven or eight years. He’d been a sailor on the ocean, and we hadn’t heard a word from him, and didn’t know but he was dead, and that dream came to show me he was alive and near.”

A younger woman tells the second:—

“I dreamed one night I was going to get a scolding letter from Centerville; and the next day I got a scolding letter from Centervilie, and it was word for word just as I dreamed it. Wa’n’t that curious ?

“Don’t you believe in dreams? There’s lots do. Our minister does. I asked him one day.

“‘Don’t you believe in dreams?’ says I.

“‘Yes, I do,’ says’e. Most everybody believes in some of ’em.”

A third woman relates the following:

“One night toward morning I dreamed I saw Cousin Jane way up on the top of a high mountain; and I was looking up at her from the valley, and wondering how she got up there. She was so high up it seemed as though her head touched the sky, and she looked down and smiled on me just as pleasant as could be. I hunted around for some way to get up to her, and I found some steps. But when I got half way up, the steps came to an end, and I couldn’t get any farther. The next thing I found myself in a river and in lots of trouble. The waters were muddy, and the wind blew, and the waves dashed ever me. Then I woke up; and there was beginning to be light enough to see things around in the room, so I knew it was time to get up, All that morning I felt downhearted and depressed, and I couldn’t think of any reason why. Then at noon there came a telegram that Cousin Jane had died just before sunrise that day.”

Dream of the dead, and you will hear from the living. That means, from a near relative of the deceased.

To dream of a funeral is a sign of a wedding.

To dream of a wedding is a sign of a funeral.

Dreams go by contraries, it is said, and these last two examples are to the point. Nevertheless, it will be noted that most dreams are interpreted in accord with their incidents, and not reversibly.

If you dream of snakes, it is a sign you have an enemy.

If in your dreams you kill the snake, you may know you will get the best of your enemy.

If you dream of a fire, it is a sign you are going to quarrel. If you dream you put out the fire, you are the one who is to conquer in the quarrel.

“There! I think there’s more in those two than in all the other signs put together. When I dream of fire, I’m very careful what I do, so’s not to get into any quarrel; and if I dream of snakes, I look out for folks for fear I’ll meet an enemy.”

Saturday night dream,
Sunday morning told,
Sign ‘twill come to pass
Before it’s a week old.

“You will have great trouble if you dream of a white horse,” said Uncle Timothy. “I’ve always found that to come true. There was one time in particular I remember. It was winter, and I was at work a good many miles from home in a logging-camp. One night I had a terrible dream about a white horse that got angry with me, and bit me. I knew something would happen in consequence of that dream, and I was afraid I was going to get killed. I wa’n’t good for much workin’ that day, I felt so gloomy about my dream; but I went out with my axe same as usual. I wa’n’t noticing things as I ought to; and when I was cutting a tree, it came down and knocked me senseless. The rest of the fellows carried me to camp. [ can’t tell you how relieved I was when I come to and found myself alive. I thought myself lucky to get off so easy after such a dream.”

There are those, however, who say that to dream of a white horse is a sign you are going to be rich.

When you sleep in a strange bed, whatever you dream will come to pass.

“But then one can see that that can’t be; for one dreams horrid dreams and queer things that never could come to pass.”

If you dream of lice, it is a sign that sickness threatens some member of the family.

Tell your dream before breakfast, and it will come to pass.

To dream of eggs is a sign of trouble.

It is a good sign to dream of clear water; but to dream, of muddy water is a sign of trouble.

Dream a thing three nights in succession, and it will come to pass.

What you dream Monday morning before daylight will come true before Saturday night. If what you dream is bad, you can keep it from coming true by not telling your dream till after you’ve eaten breakfast.

To dream of picking blackberries is a sign of sickness.

Sleep with a piece of wedding-cake under your pillow for three nights in succession, and whatever you dream of on the third night will come to pass.

“You can’t always dream, though. I know I tried it when Jenny was married. I took a good hunk of the wedding-cake and put it under my pillow and kept it there five nights and never dreampt a thing. Then the sixth night I woke up about midnight feelin’ kind o’ hungry, so I ate it up.”