Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, July 18, 1940

Dream last night-
At Salem. It was night – near midnight –
I walked down Fourth St. West of Ellsworth, the street was being widened, all torn up, and the men were working all night –
It seemed tremendously exciting to me – I walked on, and found myself in a long low building like a small town railroad station; Mary Davis was there, and I thought I would spend the night at her home. Looking out of a window I saw the sky was covered with a strange cloud formation, such as I had never seen before — I cannot now describe it, in a way to show why it seemed so wonderful to me, except that it was sort of a mackerel sky, lit up by a glowing gray light. I called other people to come and look, and as we watched, fantastic lightning commenced to flicker in the north —
I remembered now, that my mother would wonder why I did not come home, and decided to call her up – (It was now about 4:30.) I thought too that she and the others at home would want to see the display in the sky. I went into Mary’s home to call up; but no matter how I dialed, I either got a wrong number, or got a “busy” signal, and while this was going on, I awoke.

Charles E. Burchfield, July 18, 1940