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HEARING AND SEEING. A VISION, 



BY PHILOQRAPH ONEIROCRITICUS. 



It has often occurred to me, whether to be blind or deaf is the greater 

 affliction : I have seen a blind man, aad have pitied his condition, when 

 I thought of the many enjoj'ments from which he was precluded. Un- 

 known to him is the " sweet return of Mom ;" unknown is the aspect of 

 all the variegated beauties with which spring and summer deck the 

 creation ; he moves on through the world perceiving no change in the 

 everchanging appearance of nature ; it is to him always the same " dai'k, 

 dark, irrecoverably dark ;" the bright beams of the sun may cheer and 

 enliven the earth, the sky may be robed in its mantle of pellucid azure, 

 and the earth clothed in its gay vestment of green ; the magnificent sea may 

 heave and swell in its noble grandeur, and the arching rainbow span the 

 sky ; but still all these sublime sights are to him unknown, as it is pa- 

 thetically expressed in those simple lines : — 



" Oh, say what is that tiling called light ? " 

 Which I can ne'er enjoy, 

 What are the blessings of the sight ? 

 Oh, tell a poor blind boy." 



Again, I have often mused upon the miseries of the deaf. To be deaf 

 is, indeed, a deprivation. Often have I seen, at the gay social board, 

 while the merry laugh went round, the poor deaf man sit, unable to par- 

 ticipate in the general hilarity, looking on while all were enjoying them- 

 selves, but yet not able to be a sharer in their mirth. 



I was indulging in these philosophical or rather philanthropic reflec- 

 tions, the other night, as I sat with the utmost gravity upon the side of 

 my bed, "a custom with me always," when I wish to have a night's sound 

 sleep. My great grandmother, who was famed for her skill in interpret- 

 ing dreams, gave me this as a last advice, that whenever I wished to be 

 free from disagreeable and ominous visions during the night, to sit upon 

 the side of my bed for about a quarter of an hour, in a state of perfect nudity; 

 the extreme cold, she said, tended to promote digestion (whether this be 

 really the case physicians can but tell), and the sudden transition to the 

 heat of the blankets immediately produced a deep and refreshing sleep. 

 Well, such were my musings upon the night J allude to ; the time ap- 

 pointed by my great grandmother being expired, I wrapped myself snugly 

 up in the warm folds of the blanket, put out my candle, drew my night- 

 cap down about my ears, and was soon locked in the embrace of " tired 

 nature's sweet restorer," when the following strange dream occurred 

 to me. 



I thought I was travelling through a fine extensive country in the 

 East ; it was about noon, and the sun was vertical in the heavens. The 

 heat was beginning to be oppressive, and I turned aside to enjoy the 

 cool shade of the trees that lay along the lughway. The boughs of all 



