which a new thought may be evolved. This idea immediately
possessed me, while a strong faith in its possibilities quieted my
troubled mind,, and started me off toward the Bakery. I ordered
a hot mince pie and as I was ashamed to devour it there, took it
to my room. To make doubly sure, however, I first drank one
of Meek's sodas, ate a dozen fried oysters and a dish of ice cream.
Then at a late hour I got into bed and ate the whole pie, lying
down.
That I ever saw the light of another day is still a wonder to
me, and before many minutes passed, I thought I never should.
Strangely enough, to dream one first must sleep, but I could
only roll in pain. Finally I got up and walked the floor, and in
the course of an hour, felt slightly better. Then, kneeling by my
bedside, I prayed fervently—more fervently than I had ever done
since my boyhood, when once I swallowed a few grains of gun
powder—Oh Lord, don't let me die, and give me an idea.
Creeping into bed with a reverent and expectant soul, I tossed
about for a long time, but at last fell into a distressed slumber.
True to my anticipation, I began to dream, but only the most
dismal, unnatural, and disagreeable events transpired, and I was
soon thankful to wake up.
The next I remember, I began to have a delicious sense of
being in paradise, of roaming over enchanted Elysian fields, and
eating and drinking rare sweets—the first reward of the opium
eater. Slowly the sense of happiness increased. Beautiful music
filled the whole world, gradually growing louder and more tri
umphant. The ecstasy of taste grew almost painful. I. felt a
great climax to be approaching and my feelings were growing so
intense that I longed for its relief. Finally it came, As the
great tumult of sensations thronged and condensed into one con
cept and mild fancy shaped into words, a semi-conscious state
came, and I felt the craving of my heart satisfied in an instant.
Eureka! Glory, hallelujah 1 I bounded up in bed.
This brought me into a full but dull consciousness. The idea!
The idea! What an idea! The essence of originality! The
culmination of erudition! It far excelled anything I had ever
read or dreamed before. With its publication I should rise at a
bound to the first rank of American writers, unexcelled—un
equalled. Letters from all over the world would come for my
autograph. What good fortune, what bliss! I'll repeat those