What Kind of Dreams Did Folks Have in 1869?

WHAT KIND OF DREAMS DID FOLKS HAVE IN 1869? WELL, LET'S FIND OUT!

"MY DREAM," WRITTEN BY J. HELMORE, PUBLISHED IN THE "BOW BELLS" LITERARY MAGAZINE OF OCTOBER 1869

     In 1869 the Free Lands and Homestead Grant program was launched. It was a multi level government initiative, to help encourage settlement of the unoccupied regions of the country. The government gave away free 100 acre parcels to emigrants, arriving in Canada, largely for agricultural pursuits. It was established as a trial endeavour, throughout the District of Muskoka and Parry Sound, to determine if homesteaders could make prosperous farms, from its adverse topography. Many water hazards you might say, including bogs, swamps, creeks, rivers, and lakes. Many thousands of eager Europeans, decided to abandon their homes and livelihoods overseas, to take up the land grants in this region, including Parry Sound. The hardships of pioneering on the Ontario frontier, were of monstrous proportion, many settlers failing at their mission to set up successful farmsteads. Hundreds if not thousands, perished as a direct result, of having arrived on this wild frontier, poorly prepared, to handle the extremes of land clearing, and surviving the long, brutal winters, and short, fly-infested summers. This is what was going on in Muskoka in the year 1869.  Here then is what the literary compendium, known as "Bow Bells," was publishing in October of that same year. The publication by the way, was one penny per issue, so it's possible these same pioneers may have had access to it, most likely of course when they were still in Europe. Here is an article under the heading, "Adventures, National Customs, and Curious Facts," and the story written by J. Helmore, is entitled "My Dream." It begins as follows:

     "The 24th of February, 1844, found me first mate of the brig 'Red Jacket', in the latitude of Bermuda, bound to the south side of Cuba. A terrific gale had just ceased a thirty-six hour blowing, and I went below and turned-in. I was not long in my berth before I was in dreamland. I seldom dream, and up to that date I had no faith in dreams. As what I had experienced while asleep at that time, afterwards proved true. I will proceed in a few words to relate it.

     "My father, who had been dead for twelve years, came to the side of my berth, and placing his hand on my head, said, 'My son, rise and follow me.' I did so. He conducted me out on deck, over the vessel's side, and we glided above the ocean at a rapid rate, when suddenly I descried a boat containing men tossing about on the waves. We slighted on board of her; and then I saw my father's brother, who had some weeks before sailed with the brig 'Joseph Brown' for Jamaica. 'My son,' said my father, 'you see the condition your uncle and his companions are in. Nine days ago their vessel foundered, since which, they have been exposed to the mercy of winds and waves. The last two days they have had no provisions. It is in your power to rescue them. Come, we must now return to your vessel.'

     "As he said this, we immediately stepped out of the boat and glided back to the brig then into the cabin, and I returned to my berth. My father then said, 'As soon as you have charge of the deck, keep the brig off south-east, and by four o'clock you will come up with the boat containing your uncle, and his fellow-sufferers. Now wake, it is twelve o'clock, and you are called.' As he finished speaking, he shook me violently, and I awoke, in time, to hear Captain Crockett exclaim, 'Turn out Mr. Hedmore, turn out. Larboard watch on deck'. I was out of my berth in a moment, and hurried on deck, when I perceived that the sails had been jibed over during my watch below. 'That's fortunate,' I thought, 'for in case Captain Crockett refuses to change the vessel's course, which I felt confident he will, I can now haul her up two points, and he will know nothing about it.' Had the vessel not been jibed, I could not well have kept her off two points without the Captain's knowing it, although I noticed that he had been indulging freely with his old friend, the Jamaican bottle.

     "As soon as the larboard watch was set, he came to me and said, 'Mr. Helmore, make a good southeast course, and heave the log every hour; should the wind blow any fresher, taken in the flying jib'. 'Ay, ay, sir,' I replied. 'Captain, before you go below, I would like to tell you of a dream I have had; will you listen to it sir?' 'Yes, if it is not too long, out with it'. I then briefly stated what I have just related to the reader. After I had concluded, Captain Crockett said, 'All moonshine!' Why, man, should the vessel's course be altered south-east by east, you would strike the broadside of Bermuda, by four o'clock. No, no sir. Keep her on her course, south-east,' saying this, he went below.

     "As soon as I was satisfied that the Captain had turned in, I went to Jem (the man at the wheel) and told him to luff up south-east by east. As it was necessary that I should assign some reason for altering the vessel's course, I resolved to make him my confidant, and when his turn at the wheel was over, I had decided to steer the next two hours myself. 'Jem,' said I. 'do you believe in dreams?' 'Well, yes sir, I do rather believe in them.' 'Well, Jem, while I was below I dreamed that I saw a boat containing four men, drifting about, and was told to steer the brig two points to the east'ard of her course, during my watch, and by four o'clock, I would come up with them. Now, Jem, I want you to luff up south-east by east, and if the Captain should come on deck, you can tell him she steers wild, and has 'sprung the luff' on you. Mind Jem, this must be kept a secret. 'Ay, ay, sir,' said Jem, giving the vessel the wheel two points. 'The Captain said we'd make Bermuda, didn't he sir?'

     "No danger Jem, Bermuda is off our weather quarter over a hundred miles.' Nothing of interest transpired during the next two hours, and at two o'clock I took the wheel, and continued to keep the vessel south-east by east, till half-past three, when day began to break, and I kept her away south-east again. I then called the sailor whose turn I had been steering to come to the wheel; and I went forward and told Jem, who was anxiously looking out for the boat, to go to the foremast head and see whether anything was in sight. He had not got half-way up the ratlins, when the welcome salute of 'Boat ahoy,' was made by him. I immediately jumped up the rigging; and there, sure enough, about a quarter of a mile ahead, was a boat the very picture of the one I had seen in my dream. I instantly hastened down to the deck, and went to the cabin door and shouted, 'Boat in sight, and close aboard, sir.' A moment afterwards Captain Crockett came hurrying up. By time we were within two cable lengths of the boat, and we at once hove to, and launched our boat, and in twenty minutes the shipwrecked men were safely on board, when what was my surprise to discover, that one of them was my uncle John! The rescued men were nearly exhausted; but by observing proper care, they soon recovered, when my uncle John gave us the following account of their voyage.

     "Our brig, the 'Joseph Brown', called on the 20th of last month from Liverpool, bound to Jamaica. Ten days ago she sprung a leak, during a heavy gale, which lasted six days. On the morning of the 14th, finding both pumps failing to keep her free, we got the boats in readiness for use at a moment's notice. It was well we did so, for at midnight she began to settle, and soon went down. I and three others succeeded in getting into one boat, and the mate and the remainder of the crew into a second. Our condition, as you may judge, was pitiable. We were adrift upon the ocean with but a scanty supply of provisions, and only a single oar, the rest having been washed overboard when the brig went down. We had despaired of ever reaching land, or being picked-up. Last night I dreamed that my brother (your father) came to me and stated that at daybreak, a vessel would rescue us, which has proved true.

     "A singular coincidence,' said Captain Crockett. 'Last night my mate told me that he dreamed a boat containing four men was near, and if we steered south-east by east, we would come up with them by daylight.' Two days after recovering these men, we spoke of the brig Romer, when uncle John requested to be taken on board of her, as she was bound to Liverpool, and he wanted to reach home as soon as possible. We hailed the Captain, and asked whether he would take on board some persons we had rescued from an open boat, and who wanted to get back to England. 'Yes,' he answered. 'Bring them on board. I am short-handed. Half my crew are down with sickness.' We soon conveyed them on board, when, wishing them a pleasant passage, we stood on our course."

     When we fall asleep and slide into one of our dreamland episodes, might we occasionally predict the future in due course?

ADVENTURES, NATIONAL CUSTOMS AND CURIOUS FACTS - PLAYING WITH SNAKES

     Also contained in the compendium of "Bow Bells" magazines, circa 1869, there is a fascinating story about poisonous snake handling, that I thought would interest readers. It's what the readers of 1869 paid a penny and issue to acquire, and this story is, well, at least in the contemporary sense, "worth every penny." The story begins:

     "Dr. Schuman, a well known physician of Baltimore, in the United States, has made the following communication to a medical journal. 'I send you the following account of a rattlesnake bite, and the remedies which proved successful in a case which came under my charge. John Brooks, a German by birth, and a stuffer of birds, animals etc., who had resided at No. 25, East Fayette Street, Baltimore, for a number of years, frequently indulged in playing with all varieties of snakes, in the most careless and reckless manner. Brooks was a man of very intemperate habits, and was always under the influence of spirituous liquers. It was a very common occurrance to see him standing at his shop door, surrounded by a crowd of children and loafers, with sometimes a rattlesnake in one hand, and a copperhead in the other; or perhaps, a rattlesnake in each hand. I never knew him to have a cobra; but anacondas and boa-constrictors he cared no more for, than an ordinary individual would of a canary bird. He was a tall, muscular man, of great strength and powerful constitution; and, in spite of his drinking to such excess as to almost produce insanity, there was something peculiarly interesting in his features, and he had the most piercing eyes I ever saw in a man's head. He, moreover, managed to obtain possession of animals of all descriptions, from all parts of South and North America, without paying but a trifle for them.

      "Brooks played on the accordion, or rather played at it, making a monotonous sound that could hardly be considered a tune. At all times of the day and night he would turn out of their cages, as many as ten or twelve different kind of snakes in the room where he and his wife slept; and very often after she had retired, and the poor woman be frightened nearly out of her senses, he would be playing his accordion, and the snakes hissing and darting about the room. He had also five or six children who slept in the same room. There would generally be in his collection, three or four rattlesnakes.

     "Although I have killed many rattlesnakes in the mountains of Virginia, as well as other varieties, my blood would run cold at this man's reckless exposure of his life. One night about nine o'clock, in the early part of October 1866, I was called on by Brooks's oldest daughter to come and see her father, as he was bitten by a rattlesnake. Being a physician, and residing in the neighbourhood, I immediately answered the summons. On arriving at the house, although only ten minutes had elapsed, (I found) the bite was on the back of his left hand; he was almost insensible, and in answer to my inquiry regarding his feelings, could only give a slight motion of his head. The arm had swollen to an enormous size, and presented more the appearance of being totally bruised. Some bystanders had already endeavoured to administer whisky; but on account of a disordered condition of the stomach, we found it impossible to get him to retain it in any shape, having already drunk copiously of lager-beer.

     "I immediately proceeded to cut out the flesh well from around the bite, which was no larger than the point of a pen, and applied a very powerful suction cupping pump to the wound, at the same time administering one grain of corrosive sublimate in about half an ounce of ethereal solution of opium, which I was agreeably disappointed to find he retained on his stomach, and caused him to rear up and speak a few words. The pump drew blood from the bite, and I immediately ordered also about fifty leaches to be brought and applied all over the arm to prevent a return of such poisonous blood to the head. For the benefit of all the medical faculty and humanity, I will give you an account of the treatment adopted by myself, which was to administer one fourth of a grain of corrosive sublimate or bichloride of mercury, with one grain of opium every four hours. This treatment I continued up to the fourth week, and then gradually diminished the dose. At the end of the fourth week, Brooks commenced to speak; and, forty-five days after he was bitten, he recovered, and immediately went to playing with snakes again.

      "In the early part of last spring, Brooks was standing in his door playing with a rattlesnake in one hand, and a black snake in the other, with his usual audience, or whatever they may be termed, and giving his exhibition, when some thoughtless man passing by, called out in fun, 'Brooks you are a rowdy!' This so exasperated him, he took his eye off the rattlesnake for a moment, and it immediately struck his fangs in his right cheek twice, not one or two inches from the corner of his mouth. He placed the snakes back in the cage with the greatest care, and called for his accordion, telling his wife he would play one more tune, as he must die in a few moments. They sent for another physician (during my absence from the city), but his services were useless; and after playing his accordion for ten minutes, he went upstairs to his bedroom, vomited up the contents of his stomach, and died, as his wife said, like a man going to sleep, and without the least sign of pain. His body was so decomposed in fourteen hours afterwards, it was necessary to inter it immediately."

     I love these old books. I have a lot more to share, and stories from antiquity you will find hard to believe. Being a bibliophile has its perks other than benefitting from the increasing value of antiquarian books. I am surrounded by some of the greatest and most memorable stories ever written, because this you see, is both my profession and my hobby.