Oh steam! most stupendous, astonishing steam!
Transporting us faster than fleet-footed dream,
What could make a doctor, with serious face,
Pronounce a prognosis of death in thy case?
In thy system's full vigor, to venture to say,
That 'steam-locomotion had seen its best day?'
The flush that attended his words was cold,
Like a thing that happen'd—a tale that is told;
And his neighbor still vainly attempted to find
Some loop-hole of vantage to peep at his mind.
While his wonder was long, and his marvel was deep,
The man who was wonder'd at fell fast asleep.
Of every-day chances, there's nothing that seems
So involv'd in a mist as the dreaming of dreams;
When the fancies seem fitfully practising o'er
The parts that their waking realities bore;
Like the ghosts of departed returning again
To the scenes where they acted and suffer'd as men.
Thus the mind of our doctor most readily found
Its way to his regular visiting-round;
Now counting how long such a patient could live,
Now giving a drastic purgative;
It had tempted a frivolous man to a smile,
The half-drawing down of his mouth all the while.[4]
His journey soon ended, his dreaming was done,
And quickly dismounted the wonderful one.
Save a handkerchief-parcel, conveniently small,
No baggage or bag was he cumber'd withal;
Right glad was his heart that he was not delay'd
With porters disputing, and people dismay'd.
At the first man he met, with a citizen's air,
He propounded a question—it made the man stare;
The answer was ready, the questioner bow'd,
And hastily elbow'd his way through the crowd.
'Oh ho!' said his neighbor, as off he went,
(The one that had wonder'd,) 'I know what he meant!'
At a house, (but I cannot tell which it may be,
Though possess'd of an author's ubiquity,)
At a house in that city, inhabits a maid,
Who travels by spirit, and makes it a trade.
That maid and her sister were sitting alone,
Employ'd in some manner not certainly known;
They might have been working, or reading, I guess,
Or playing at cards, or back-gammon, or chess;
Whatever employ'd them, a very loud rap
Disorder'd their nerves like a thunder-clap.
The sleep-walker quickly adjusted her hair,
Assuming the look she intended to wear,
And toss'd on the table, as other maids do,
Some 'work,' with the needle appearing half through.
One glance to see ev'ry thing properly plac'd;
Or derang'd to exactly the limits of taste,
Then, putting her chair with the back tow'rd the light,
Prepar'd for the visitor, be who he might.
The other, who play'd a subordinate part,
Took the same little process, with little less art;
And then was directed to 'ascertain straight
What manner of person it was at the gate.'
Oh! sleep-walker! sleep-walker! did you but know,
Who the visitor is, that is waiting below.
A leech in good practice, and wanting a wife,
You'd think him a capital venture for life.
The sister arriv'd at the door in a trice,
And the man that was waiting she look'd at twice:
From the crown of his hat to the sole of his shoe,
She look'd at him twice, as she'd look him all through.
That hat was low and its brim was wide,
But the sleep-walker's sister was not inside:
And his coat was black and his breeches were gray,
And look'd as a thriving practitioner's may.
His bosom was clothed in a sombre vest,
That aptly comported with all the rest;
Each pocket contriv'd of an ample space
For holding a portable instrument-case:
But, far more than breeches, hat, waist-coat or coat,
His own proper features seem'd worthy of note.
His locks were grizzled, his beard it was spare,
As he dieted ev'ry particular hair;
From a long, long nose, one could fancy how well
Its owner could practise his organs of smell;
For it seem'd, as he breath'd atmospherical air,
He perceiv'd what its physical properties were.
His eye with occasional glances by stealth,
Was plainly surveying one's bodily health;
And in his thin fingers, there seem'd to exist
A perpetual impulse to feel of one's wrist.
Whatever he utter'd, his look was profound,
And an odor of sanity breath'd all around.
No difficult matter it was to see,
That a person of science and skill was he.