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The Book of Dreams and Ghosts
·
Andrew Lang
188
THE
DREAM
THAT
KNOCKED
AT
THE
DOOR
The
following
is
an
old
but
good
story.
The
Rev.
Joseph
Wilkins
died,
an
aged
man,
in
1800.
He
left
this
narrative,
often
printed;
the
date
of
the
adventure
is
1754,
when
Mr.
Wilkins,
aged
twenty-three,
was
a
schoolmaster
in
Devonshire.
The
dream
was
an
ordinary
dream,
and
did
not
announce
death,
or
anything
but
a
journey.
Mr.
Wilkins
dreamed,
in
Devonshire,
that
he
was
going
to
London.
He
thought
he
would
go
by
Gloucestershire
and
see
his
people.
So
he
started,
arrived
at
his
father's
house,
found
the
front
door
locked,
went
in
by
the
back
door,
went
to
his
parents'
room,
saw
his
father
asleep
in
bed
and
his
mother
awake.
He
said:
"Mother,
I
am
going
a
long
journey,
and
have
come
to
bid
you
good-bye".
She
answered
in
a
fright,
"Oh
dear
son,
thou
art
dead!"
Mr.
Wilkins
wakened,
and
thought
nothing
of
it.
As
early
as
a
letter
could
come,
one
arrived
from
his
father,
addressing
him
as
if
he
were
dead,
and
desiring
him,
if
by
accident
alive,
or
any
one
into
whose
hands
the
letter
might
fall,
to
write
at
once.
The
father
then
gave
his
reasons
for
alarm.
Mrs.
Wilkins,
being
awake
one
night,
heard
some
one
try
the
front
door,
enter
by
the
back,
then
saw
her
son
come
into
her
room
and
say
he
was
going
on
a
long
journey,
with
the
rest
of
the
dialogue.
She
then
woke
her
husband,
who
said
she
had
been
dreaming,
but
who
was
alarmed
enough
to
write
the
letter.
No
harm
came
of
it
to
anybody.
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