Early childhood / by Margaret Mcmillan.

  • McMillan, Margaret, 1860-1931.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Early childhood / by Margaret Mcmillan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    gigantic arch, westward the sky was like a sea of amethyst. Often on chill mornings, when the rain falls, and the streets are dark, this mill-worker, shiver- ing in her poor clothing as she hurries along the muddy pavement, remembers that radiant sky and plain, and is comforted, She warms herself at this remembrance as though it were a fire. Something of the light of that throbbing dream atmosphere enters her heart. It was only a dream—but a helpful dream. Sleep is change. Those regions of the brain which have been taxed rest (or ought to rest if sleep is healthy) at night. We do not dream of the friend we have lost, or if we dream we forget that he is dead. We do not consciously attend to anything, and we feel little surprise at events which in a wak- ing state would seem impossible. The field of con- sciousness is invaded by a flood of images and asso- ciations—neglected regions of the brain wake into a kind of activity. Thus the poor, the enslaved, the over-pressed, the sorrowing find liberty, not in the cessation of all life, but in the new life and move- ment of sleep. “But as sleep deepens consciousness fades.” It is true. But even then sleep is not mere lethargy. Far otherwise. Just as, in the tropical forest, a new life wakens when the birds and beasts that love the