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The Coral Sprigs

Categories: Dream
Scary Books: The Book Of Dreams And Ghosts
: Andrew Lang

Mrs. Weiss, of St. Louis, was in New York in January, 1881, attending

a daughter, Mrs. C., who was about to have a child. She writes:--



"On Friday night (Jan. 21) I dreamed that my daughter's time came;

that owing to some cause not clearly defined, we failed to get word to

Mr. C., who was to bring the doctor; that we sent for the nurse, who

came; that as the hours passed and neither Mr. C. nor the doctor came
<
r /> we both got frightened; that at last I heard Mr. C. on the stairs, and

cried to him: 'Oh, Chan, for heaven's sake get a doctor! Ada may be

confined at any moment'; that he rushed away, and I returned to the

bedside of my daughter, who was in agony of mind and body; that

suddenly I seemed to know what to do, . . . and that shortly after Mr.

C. came, bringing a tall young doctor, having brown eyes, dark hair,

ruddy brun complexion, grey trousers and grey vest, and wearing a

bright blue cravat, picked out with coral sprigs; the cravat attracted

my attention particularly. The young doctor pronounced Mrs. C.

properly attended to, and left."



Mrs. Weiss at breakfast told the dream to Mr. C. and her daughter;

none of them attached any importance to it. However, as a snowstorm

broke the telegraph wires on Saturday, the day after the dream, Mrs.

Weiss was uneasy. On Tuesday the state of Mrs. C. demanded a doctor.

Mrs. Weiss sent a telegram for Mr. C.; he came at last, went out to

bring a doctor, and was long absent. Then Mrs. Weiss suddenly felt a

calm certainty that _she_ (though inexperienced in such cares) could

do what was needed. "I heard myself say in a peremptory fashion:

'Ada, don't be afraid, I know just what to do; all will go well'."

All did go well; meanwhile Mr. C. ran to seven doctors' houses, and at

last returned with a young man whom Mrs. Weiss vaguely recognised.

Mrs. C. whispered, "Look at the doctor's cravat". It was blue and

coral sprigged, and then first did Mrs. Weiss remember her dream of

Friday night.



Mrs. Weiss's story is corroborated by Mr. Blanchard, who heard the

story "a few days after the event". Mrs. C. has read Mrs. Weiss's

statement, "and in so far as I can remember it is quite correct". Mr.

C. remembers nothing about it; "he declares that he has no

recollection of it, _or of any matters outside his business_, and

knowing him as I do," says Mrs. Weiss, "I do not doubt the assertion".



Mr. C. must be an interesting companion. The nurse remembers that

after the birth of the baby Mrs. C. called Mr. C.'s attention to "the

doctor's necktie," and heard her say, "Why, I know him by mamma's

description as the doctor she saw in her dreams". {48}



The only thing even more extraordinary than the dream is Mr. C.'s

inability to remember anything whatever "outside of his business".

Another witness appears to decline to be called, "as it would be

embarrassing to him in his business". This it is to be Anglo-Saxon!



We now turn to a Celtic dream, in which knowledge supposed to be only

known to a dead man was conveyed to his living daughter.



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