, for fear that
the mention of it might hasten the birth of the idea in the brain of
the negro.

That evening, after he had read the oration to his wife and told her
of his forebodings, he sat with his face buried in his hands, brooding
over the situation. Late in the night he retired to rest, and the next
morning, when he awoke, his wife was standing by his bed, calling him.
She saw that his sleep was restless and thought that he was having
troubled dreams. And so he was.

He dreamed that a large drove of fatted swine were munching acorns
in a very dense forest of oaks, both tall and large. The oaks were
sending the acorns down in showers, and the hogs were greedily
consuming them. The hogs ate so many that they burst open, and from
their rotting carcasses fresh oaks sprang and grew with surprising
rapidity. A dark cloud arose and a terrible hurricane swept over the
forest; and the old and new oaks fought furiously in the storm, until
a loud voice, like unto that of a God, cried out above all the din of
the hurricane, saying in tones of thunder: "Know ye not that ye are
parents and children? Parents, recognize your children. Children, be
proud of the parents from whom you spring."

The hurricane ceased, the clouds sped away as if in terror, and
the oaks grew up together under a clear sky of the purest blue, and
beautiful birds of all kinds built their nests in the trees, and
carolled forth the sweetest songs.

He placed upon the dream the following interpretation:

The swine were the negroes. The oak trees were the white people. The
acorns were the doctrine of human liberty, everywhere preached by
Anglo-Saxons. The negroes, feasting off of the same thought, had
become the same kind of being as the white man, and grew up to a point
of equality. The hurricane was the contest between the two races over
the question of equality. The voice was intended to inform the whites
that they had brought about these aspirations in the bosom of
the negro, and that the liberty-loving negro was their legitimate
offspring, and not a bastard. The whites should recognize their own
doings. On the other hand, the negro should not be over boastful, and
should recognize that the lofty conception of the dignity of man
and value and true character of liberty were taught him by
the Anglo-Saxon. The birds betokened a happy adjustment of all
differences; and the dream that began in the gloom of night ended in
the dawn of day.

Mr. King was