The Use and Need of the Life of Carrie A. Nation [27]
lesson. I wished by this to impress the little ones with the
purpose of the Gospel.
I have had visions and dreams that I know were sent to me by my
Heavenly Father to warn or comfort or instruct me. I notice my dreams,
not all, but I can tell the significant ones, usually by the impression they
make on me. The dream that comes to me just before waking up generally
means something to me. To dream of snakes has always been a
bad omen to me. When I first started out smashing, while in Wichita
jail, I dreamed of two enormous snakes, one on one side of a road, the
other on the other; one raised to strike me, the other made no move. I
was impressed that the one that was the most venomous and in the attitude
of striking me with its fangs was the Republican party, and this
has been my deadly foe.
I will here relate a vision I had. One cold night in March, 1889, I
heard a groan across the hall. It was about three o'clock in the morning.
I found the sufferer to be an old gentleman who was having very severe
cramps, so I went down to the kitchen to make a mustard plaster. The
hotel was a number of frame buildings, one having twenty-one rooms, and
about five or six cottages around the main building. We carried no insurance,
and so many would say we had a "firetrap" there. We had a mortgage
on the place, and I was kept in terror constantly for fear of fire, and
would often spring out of bed at night in my sleep, expecting to see a fire.
I lit a candle, went down stairs through several dark halls. Then
I went upstairs again and gave the old man the plaster; afterwards returned
to the kitchen, thinking probably I left the candle burning. Things
were all dark, but when I started up the stairs, there seemed to be
a light shining behind me, which would come and go in flashes, as I
ascended. I looked everywhere to see where it came from, but discovered
it to be an, unnatural manifestation, for I could not see to step nor
move by it. It followed me until I got to my room door. It did not alarm
me. I felt the sweet, peaceful presence of God, I prayed to him and I
could think of no reason for having this blessing from God, except that
I had gotten up in the cold to relieve this suffering man. I stood by my
bed for a short time praying to God, and thanking him for his goodness to
me. I thought Mr. Nation was asleep, but he afterwards told me that he
heard me whispering. I slept until late, and when I did go down to breakfast,
Mr. Nation and Alex, my son-in-law, were at the table. I told them
I had a warning last night, and if I had a Daniel or Joseph they could
interpret a vision I had. The peculiar vision of the light was repeated to
them, but they paid very little attention to it; being very busy I thought
no more of it that day.
Just about three o'clock the next morning, I was awakened by the cry
of fire. Charlien screamed from the next room: "Mamma, the town is on
fire." I ran out and the whole heavens seemed to be on fire. It had originated
in a drugstore and was sweeping towards the hotel. I immediately
ran upstairs and began to pray. I told God "There wasn't a dishonest dollar
so, far as I knew in the house, and that He told me "to call on Him in
a day of trouble," and said, "this is my day of trouble, and begged He
would hear me. Many of the guests passed by, some of them with baggage
in their hands and some still dressing. I prayed until I seemed to get
an answer of security. One lady, Mrs. Moore, the wife of a physician,
who had boarded with me a long time, had a very elegant set of furniture,
and she called to me several times to take my things out of the hotel. She
had two colored men moving her furniture I heard her say to several persons:
"That woman has lost her mind." All the boarders had their trunks
out and everyone was saying to me: "Why don't you try to save your
furniture?" I would take hold of some things to take out, but it seemed
something would intimate , "Let it be." I walked down the street and Mr.
Blakely, one of the men who was killed in the Jaybird
purpose of the Gospel.
I have had visions and dreams that I know were sent to me by my
Heavenly Father to warn or comfort or instruct me. I notice my dreams,
not all, but I can tell the significant ones, usually by the impression they
make on me. The dream that comes to me just before waking up generally
means something to me. To dream of snakes has always been a
bad omen to me. When I first started out smashing, while in Wichita
jail, I dreamed of two enormous snakes, one on one side of a road, the
other on the other; one raised to strike me, the other made no move. I
was impressed that the one that was the most venomous and in the attitude
of striking me with its fangs was the Republican party, and this
has been my deadly foe.
I will here relate a vision I had. One cold night in March, 1889, I
heard a groan across the hall. It was about three o'clock in the morning.
I found the sufferer to be an old gentleman who was having very severe
cramps, so I went down to the kitchen to make a mustard plaster. The
hotel was a number of frame buildings, one having twenty-one rooms, and
about five or six cottages around the main building. We carried no insurance,
and so many would say we had a "firetrap" there. We had a mortgage
on the place, and I was kept in terror constantly for fear of fire, and
would often spring out of bed at night in my sleep, expecting to see a fire.
I lit a candle, went down stairs through several dark halls. Then
I went upstairs again and gave the old man the plaster; afterwards returned
to the kitchen, thinking probably I left the candle burning. Things
were all dark, but when I started up the stairs, there seemed to be
a light shining behind me, which would come and go in flashes, as I
ascended. I looked everywhere to see where it came from, but discovered
it to be an, unnatural manifestation, for I could not see to step nor
move by it. It followed me until I got to my room door. It did not alarm
me. I felt the sweet, peaceful presence of God, I prayed to him and I
could think of no reason for having this blessing from God, except that
I had gotten up in the cold to relieve this suffering man. I stood by my
bed for a short time praying to God, and thanking him for his goodness to
me. I thought Mr. Nation was asleep, but he afterwards told me that he
heard me whispering. I slept until late, and when I did go down to breakfast,
Mr. Nation and Alex, my son-in-law, were at the table. I told them
I had a warning last night, and if I had a Daniel or Joseph they could
interpret a vision I had. The peculiar vision of the light was repeated to
them, but they paid very little attention to it; being very busy I thought
no more of it that day.
Just about three o'clock the next morning, I was awakened by the cry
of fire. Charlien screamed from the next room: "Mamma, the town is on
fire." I ran out and the whole heavens seemed to be on fire. It had originated
in a drugstore and was sweeping towards the hotel. I immediately
ran upstairs and began to pray. I told God "There wasn't a dishonest dollar
so, far as I knew in the house, and that He told me "to call on Him in
a day of trouble," and said, "this is my day of trouble, and begged He
would hear me. Many of the guests passed by, some of them with baggage
in their hands and some still dressing. I prayed until I seemed to get
an answer of security. One lady, Mrs. Moore, the wife of a physician,
who had boarded with me a long time, had a very elegant set of furniture,
and she called to me several times to take my things out of the hotel. She
had two colored men moving her furniture I heard her say to several persons:
"That woman has lost her mind." All the boarders had their trunks
out and everyone was saying to me: "Why don't you try to save your
furniture?" I would take hold of some things to take out, but it seemed
something would intimate , "Let it be." I walked down the street and Mr.
Blakely, one of the men who was killed in the Jaybird