Under the Sealing Wax: Interpret Abigail Adams' Dream

During graduate school I worked as a tandem oral proofreader of historical papers. "What is tandem oral proofreading and is it suitable for children?" you may be wondering. It's proofreading done in pairs and it's suitable for all ages! One person reads the original letter or paper out loud including all capitalization and punctuation while the other checks the transcription. It's the most accurate method for proofreading, and rather fun because you get to work as a team.

I also felt like I got to know our Founding Fathers extremely well from reading their letters. James Madison was incredibly patient, humble, and thoughtful. John Adams was insecure yet insightful. Thomas Jefferson wrote his w's like v's, which sounds like Count Dracula when spoken out loud (I vant to suck your blood!). My partner and I joked that Jefferson was really a vampire, which is why people at the University of Virgina refer to him in the present tense.

One of the most interesting projects I helped to proofread was John and Abigail Adams' correspondence to each other during John Adams' presidency. They address each other as "Dearest Friend," and ask each other's opinions on everything. If communication is the basis of a good marriage, these guys were doing it right. (The full transcripts of their letters are available online from the Massachussetts Historical Society at http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/letter/.)

One passage of Abigail's letter on Jan. 1, 1797, has stuck with me years later. She's describing a weird dream so clearly that it seems like she could be sitting next to you asking you what it means today.

I seldom think twice of a dreem but last Night I had one of so singular a nature that it has amused my mind to day with various conjectures. I was riding in my Coach, where I knew not, but all at once I perceived flying in the Air a Number of large black Balls of the Size of a 24 pounder. They appeard to be all directed at me. All of them however burst and fell before they reach'd me tho I continud going immediatly towards them. I saw them crumble all to Attoms, but during this Scene, two Guns were dischargd at my left Ear the flash of which I saw and heard the report.

I still remaind unhurt, but proceeded undaunted upon my course.

How would the Sooth Sayers interpret this Dream?

I am no soothsayer, but according to the Dream Bible, "To dream of being shot at, but missed symbolizes a person or situation that is attempting to control your decisions." Sorry that information is about 200 years too late, Abigail.

John Adams had a different interpretation when he replied to her letter: 

Your black Balls and flashing Guns are proofs of an Anxiety that is very needless. I never felt easier in my Life. My Path is very plain, and if I am not supported I will resign.

Thanks a lot, John. Way to turn your wife's dream into something all about you and your job.

Abigail occasionally entreats her husband to burn her letters, but thankfully he didn't listen to her. Some of the topics she writes about must have seemed mundane at the time: moving her mother to a room on the ground floor so she didn't have to take the stairs, complaining about the lack of affordable coaches for sale, and finding decorations for the new White House. Now, they're fascinating insights into eighteenth-century life.

If you're doing any kind of research for historical fiction, I highly recommend checking out any kind of historical documents from the time period. Let me know if you find any more evidence that Thomas Jefferson was a vampire.