Historical dream account · English · original text
The nurse who burned nothing
William Dean Howells (1837–1920)
Impressions and Experiences (1896) · I Talk of Dreams, printed pp. 114, 115
Dreamer identified by the source: William Dean Howells
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One of the children had been exposed to a very remote chance of scarlet-fever at the house of a friend, and had been duly scolded for the risk, which was then quite forgotten. I dreamed that this friend, however, was giving a ladies' lunch, at which I was unaccountably and invisibly present, and the talk began to run upon the scarlet-fever cases in her family. She said that after the last she had fumigated the whole house for seventy-two hours (the period seemed very significant and important in my dream), and had burned everything she could lay her hands on.
"And what did the nurse burn?" asked one of the other ladies.
The hostess began to laugh: "The nurse didn't burn a thing!"
Then all the rest burst out laughing at the joke, and the laughter woke me, to see the boy sitting up in his bed, and hear him saying, "Oh, I am so sick!"
It was the nausea which announces scarlet-fever, and for six weeks after that we were in quarantine. Very likely the fear of the contagion had been in my nether mind all the time, but, so far as consciousness could testify of it, I had wholly forgotten it.
Undated; author says some ten years old, not a verified exact year
Source & context
Howells introduces this as an old remembered dream, saying it remains perfect in my mind, though it is now some ten years old. The specific year is unknown. The opening waking exposure, invisible dream luncheon, awakening, subsequent quarantine and alternative explanation remain together. His last explanation about an earlier fear of contagion must not be omitted. This is historical recollection, not current diagnosis, treatment guidance or proof of precognition.
William Dean Howells (1837–1920), own recalled dream in Impressions and Experiences (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1896), I Talk of Dreams, printed pp. 114, 115. Original-edition witness: Internet Archive. This is a published recollection in a humorous nonfiction essay. Original wording and qualifications retained; descriptive title and navigation themes added by Synastry.
Undated; author says some ten years old, not a verified exact year; exact modern date not assigned.
Public domain in the United States (1896 edition) ↗
Original 1896 English edition, confirmed by printed title page and Library of Congress September 25, 1896 deposit stamp. The archive item states the Library of Congress is unaware of copyright restrictions for the item. The old published text predates 1931 and has an expired-US-copyright basis; Howells died in 1920, so ordinary life-plus-70 terms have elapsed. No modern translation or scholarly edition is used; no new CC licence or blanket worldwide clearance is asserted.
Source locator and text provenance
I Talk of Dreams, printed pp. 114, 115
The original text and redactions are preserved. The page title is an editorial navigation label.
Only scan-witnessed OCR, line/page furniture and punctuation spacing repairs. Editorial title and navigation metadata added. No synthetic dream prose, modern translation, calendar conversion or omitted authored qualification.
- Account text SHA-256
- 30730c02da6626f6c7aea1f1dae3e3051ca362e75b474315411742d9c3f48b0f
- Source file SHA-256
- 8ba32ef53e13a25a46918b94fa62c27ae1a3641d582d15f33071e23b68a7f058
Content notes
- Historical illness reference
Connections in the Loom
Titles, theme labels, illustrations and map connections are editorial navigation aids. They are separate from the account’s words and do not establish connections between real people.