Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-04-20
M1scELLAHEous READING.
EARLY RISING.

There is a capital anecdote Of the reign OF
Louis XVI of France, according to which
some Court ladies got il into their head from
some book they had been reading, that it must
be- a glorious thing to see the sun rise. But
as that took place in the only hours in which
they were uniformly in bed, what was to br
done. After much consideration, it being OF
course impossible for them to think Of rising
so early, they resolved to have party TO sit
up all night and ride out just before day to the
top of negtboring hill to witness the strange
phenomenon. This was duly performed, and
the friends then all went to bed, astonished
at the degree to which they had ruralized
themselves. Daniel Webster it seems dur
ing many years Of his residence in Washing
ton, used to get up an hour before sunrise in
winter, light all the fires with his own hands,
having knack at that sort OF thing, and then
start off to market with his basket on his arm.
to purchase himself the daily provisions, gain
ing afterwards, no doubt. thus many an
hours march ON most Of his associates.
In New York there has been formed
Young Mems Early Rising Association. all
the members Of which are pledged to be up
at certain hour. 1t originated with abou.
halfa dozen young men, who having kept up
this habit for some years were surprised at
its beneficial effects, at the success in life ot
their associates.
4 little watchful experience will render
this not surprising to any thoughtful man.
He who rises at FIVE instead Of seven, daily,
adds perhaps ten years of the brightest hours
to his life Of active thought and exertion.--
Life will be prolonged, health and happiness
will be preserved. All other animals but
man sleep through the dark hours and wake
with the light The time Of all the occupa-
tons of the day will be moved forward or
backward by the time of rising. The early
man takes time by the forelock, and is always
beforehand with his compepitor and his enc
my, anticipates their desig and has all his
affairs arranged SO that they cannot be dis
turbed or molested. Not the breakfast alone
but all the meals, and the hour Of retiring.
will be governed BY this habit. Such man
will drop to sleep in his chair at nine o'clock.
So much the better. Consider the effect ON
the young man. 1t is ut late hours that bad
company becomes most dangerous. Byron
abuses the moon as the light beneath which
a thousand times more wickedness is done
than the sun, and he who at twenty is never
out Of bed after ten. will find it hos saved
him q fortune, and earned for him charac-
ter before he is forty, Of which he may well
be proud. Many young man in College has
been saved from dissipated habits by the ring
ing of the College bell for morning prayers at
FIVE o'clock After getting up thus early and
working hard at study, all day, he was glad
TO get to bed between nine and ten, fairly
worn out with honest, useful, hopeful toll
instead of making night Of it in idle dissi-
patton.
In married life this habit Of being early to
bed is worth years of life and happiness
The children are never wakeful till they have
got through their first sleep. But after that.
if man has got all his repose to get, it will
be so often broken as soon to break him down.
He will become nervous simply for want
of sleep, sleep that he could have got from
nine till midnight, unbroken, but which he
cannot secure after Groups and colds and
coughs of children then become nails in their
parents cotins. intellectually q man can
do twice the work while his mind is calm and
clear, as it is early in the day, and as it is
not and cannot be, later. It was before ten
o'clock generally that Sir Walter Scott wrote
his sixteen pages per day Of those novels
which are the delights of the civilized world:
and it has been before nine o'clock that in
our OWE city DR.. Barnes has written those
commentaries on the Scripture Of which four
hundred thousand volumes have been sold
in this country and as many more in Europe.
The very self-denial and self-command indi-
Gated and encouraged by this habit is not
its least value lie who learns to govern
himselfi in one matter will in others. PHI
adeiphia Ledyer.