The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1869-09-23
aMisttllaneous.
Late Sleeping--New Philosophy.


The fact is that as life becomes more
concentrated, and its pursuits more ca.
ger, short sleep and early rising becomes
impossible. We take more sleep than
our ancestors, aud We take more because
We need more. Six hours sleep will do
for ploughman or bricklayer, or any
man who has no other exhaustion than
that produced by manual labor aud the
sooner he takes it after his labori is over
the better; but for man whose labor is
mental, the stress of whose work is on
his brain aud nervous system, and who
is tired in the evening with day of ap.
plication, neither carly to bed nor ear
ly to rise is wholesome. He needs let
ting down to the level Of repose. The
longer the interval between the active
use of his brain and his retirement to
bed the better his chance for sleep and
recruitment. To him an hour after
midnight is probably as good as two be-
fore it, and e,ea then his sleep will not
so completely and quickly restore him
us it will his neighbor who is only
physically tired. He must not only 20
to bed later, but lie longer. His best
sleep lies probably in the early morning
hours when all the nervous excitement
has passed away, and he is in absolute
rest.
There is, therefore, good deal to be
said in favor of the late habits of mod.
ern life. 1t was all very we'll for Eng.
lishmeu to go to bed eafly and get up
carly in the times Of the Tudors and
Plantagenets. Their lights were bad,
aud it was expensive work to make a
room light enought to be pleasant
They did not turn night into day as we
do but it was probably because thoy
did not know how to do it as we know.
Gas is responsible for good deal Of
our love for the long evening hours.
A London house at this time Of the
year is never so bright US it is after
dark. When the blinds are down aud
the shutters are closed, and the snug
curtains are drawn, and the room food.
ed with brilliant gas lights, aud the
brigt, fire is stirred up in the shining
CRATE, nobody regrets the sickly daylight,
which all day long has been feebly
struggling throught the fog and smoke.
Why should man wish to shorten the
brightest hours Of the twenty four, for
the sake Of an extra hour or two Of foggy,
Intellectual morningi II is not more
retaliation on our ancestors It is sim.
ply the adoption Of their maxims TO
our modern needs to say that, for many
Of ds, one waking hour after 10 o'clock
at night is worth two hours before 9 in
the morning. We live double at tho
social evening time, aud to waste such
hours in sleep when there is spare
hour in the morning which may just as
we'll be spent in bed is an unwise sub
stitutiou Of the old maxims for new
experience. No doubt the old maxims
were wise, and would still be wise il
our condition were that of our great.
grandfathcrs but while the mayims
stand, the times have changed with
them. We must have society, and we
eau only have it at night, we must have
ample rest and we can only take it in
the morning. The stress Of life, with
us, is on the Grain aud nerves and
they can only bear tho pressure by be.
ing allowed to sleep it out For a man
whose work is intellectual to have sleep
violently cut short every morning would
be half equivalent to suicide. True
wisdom teaches us to adopt ourselves tc
circumstances. Nature does not change
and what was good for our fathers Ia
doubtless good for us, provided the con
ditions are the same. But when this
is not the case, We must not allow their
example to become tyra, v, Modern
habits arc not moro rcadh, ipdulgcni
than the earlier times, and they bes
suit modern needs,