lighted in many parts of Argyllshire.
A remarkable Halloween story is recorded in Dr. Robert Chambers’s valuable
miscellany, “The Book of Days.” Mr. and Mrs. M., we are told, were a happy
young couple, who, in the middle of the last century, resided on their own estate,
in a pleasant part of the province of Leinster. Possessed of a handsome fortune,
they spent their time in various rural avocations, until the birth of a child, a little
girl, seemed to crown their felicity. On the Halloween following this notable
event, the parents retired to rest at their usual hour, Mrs. M. cradling her infant
on her bosom that she might be roused if it showed the least sign of uneasiness.
From teething or some other ailment, the child, about midnight, became very
restless, and not receiving the usual attention from its mother, woke up Mr. M.
by its cries. He at once called his wife, and told her the baby was unwell; she
made no answer. She seemed in an uneasy slumber, and in spite of all her
husband’s efforts continued to sleep on, until he was compelled to take the child
himself and endeavour to soothe it to rest. From sheer exhaustion it at last sank
into silence, while the mother slumbered until a much later hour than usual.
When she at last awoke, her husband told her of what had happened, and of the
extent to which his night’s rest had been disturbed. “I, too,” she replied, “have
passed the most miserable night I ever experienced: I now see that sleep and rest
are two different things, for I never felt so unrefreshed in my life. How I wish
you had been able to awake me—it would have spared me some of my fatigue
and anxiety! I thought I was dragged against my will into a strange part of the
country, where I had never been before, and, after what appeared to me a long
and weary journey on foot, I arrived at a comfortable looking house. I went in
longing to rest, but had no power to sit down, although there was a nice supper
laid out before a good fire, and every appearance of preparations for an expected
visitor. Exhausted as I felt, I was only allowed to stand for a minute or two, and
then hurried away by the same road back again; but now it is over, and after all it
was only a dream.”