Part 21

A crown brings honor and success.

A cross is a bad sign and usually means the death of a dear one.

But if there are two or more crosses, it means an unexpected honor.

A ring denotes marriage, while if there is a letter of the alphabet inside of it or near by, it foretells the initial of a lucky spouse. If there are lines above or below the ring, it means a disappointment.

A clover leaf is a good sign and usually denotes good luck.

Figures of flowers denote long life and happiness. If at the extreme bottom of the cup, they mean a disappointment.

Figure of a tree near the top foretells disappointment. Several trees are a sure sign of misfortune. A tree near a circle denotes a visit to the country. An X is a good sign and means that your wishes will soon come true.

A mountain denotes a trip to be taken shortly.

A star denotes happiness, while the crescent of a moon means success.

Birds are a sign of good luck.

The figure of a fish denotes good news from a distance.

A snake is a sign of an enemy and tells you to beware.

A heart signifies joy and the receipt of money.

Any letter by itself denotes good news from a person whose initial letter that happens to be.

A long line signifies a journey.

A circle with a cross inside usually foretells the birth of a child and is a lucky sign.

An anchor means success in business. If near the top of the cup, it speaks of fidelity and love.

A crown and a cross near each other denote that you will inherit a large fortune.

People of poetical views will be able to find many more articles from which they can draw their own interpretation.

Telling fortunes by means of coffee grounds in a cup follows the same general rule, altho the figures are much less varied.

DREAMS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION

Dreams are the thoughts or impressions that occupy our minds when we are asleep.

Every night, unless disease or strong excitement prevent, we are the subject of a phenomenon which if it only occurred once in a lifetime we would consider one of the greatest mysteries. We pass in an unconscious moment from the usual world of deed and action into another world, where we are unaware of what goes on around us; where we see, not with the eyes, where we hear things of which the ear gives no impression; in which we speak and are spoken to, altho no speech passes our lips or reaches our organs of hearing.

In that world we are excited to joy, to grief; we are moved to pity, we are stirred to anger; and yet these emotions are aroused by things that do not exist. Time seems to have lost its landmarks; distance offers no barriers; the dead return and the past comes once again to cheer or to grieve us.

We live in a land of Dreams. Many of the thoughts that pass thru our brains are forgotten before we awake. It often happens that people talk in their sleep, thus proving that they are dreaming, but on being awakened they deny that they dreamed, for their dreams have left no trace upon their memory.

The question whether we ever sleep without dreaming is as old as the days of the ancient Greek philosophers, and there are many able authorities on both sides of the question.

Locke, a great writer on mental phenomena, is of the opinion that dreaming is not always present during sleep; but many of the ancient as well as the modern writers contend that the mind is never at rest but continues uninterruptedly even in sleep, and that to cease to dream would be to cease to live.

Sir William Hamilton argues as follows: “When we dream, we are assuredly asleep, but the mind is not asleep, because it thinks. It is therefore manifest that mental processes may go on even tho the body is unconscious. To have no recollection of our dreams does not prove that we have not dreamed, altho the dream may have left no trace on our memories.”