Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1869-04-16
THE MORNING NAP.
A PLEA FOB THOSE WHO SLEEP IN
THR MOANING.

A PLEA FOB THOSE wHo SLEEP IN
THH MOANING.
The fact IL, that % life becomes
more concentrated, and its pursuits
more eager, short sleep and early ris-
ing become impossible. We take
more sleep than our ancestors, and
we take more because we want more.
Six hours sleep will do very we'll for
a ploughman or bricklayer, or any
man who has no other exhaustion
than that produced by manual labor,
and the sooner he takes it after his
labor is over the better; but for .
man whose labor is mental, the stress
Of whose work is on his b. ain and
nervous system, and who is tired in
the evening with day Of mental ap-
plication, neither early to bed nor
early to rise is wholesome. He needs
letting down to the level of repose.
The longer the interval between the
active use of the brain and his retire
ment, the better his chance Of sic ID
and recruitment. To him an hour
after midnight is probably as good
as two hours before it, and even then
his sleep will not so completely and
quickly restore him as it will his
ncighbor who is only physically tired.
He must not only 60 to bed later, but
lie longer. HIS best sleep probably
lies early in the morning hours when
all the nervous excitement has passed
away, aud he is in absolute rest.
There is therefore q good deal to
be said in favor Of the late habits of
modern life. It was all very we'll for
Englishmen to 90 to bed early and
get up carly in the times of the Tu-
doris, Plantagenets and Stuarts
Their lights was bad and it was ex-
pensive work to make room light
enough to be pleasant. They did
not turn night into day rs we do; but
it was probably because they did not
know how to do it as we know. Gas
is responsible for good deal of our
love to the long evening hours. A
London house at this time Of the year
is never SO bright rs it is after dark.
When the blinds are down and the
shutters arc closed, and the snug cur
tains are drawn, and the room is food
ed with brilliant gas light, and the
bright fire is stirred up in the shining
CRATE, nobody regrets the sickly day
light, which all day long has been
feebIy struggling through the fog and
smoke. Why should man wish to
shorten the brightest hours of the
twenty four for the suko of an extra
hour or two of foggy, Intellectual MORN
ing? 1t is not mere retaliation on
our ancestors it is simply the 'adap-
tation of their maxims to our modern
needs to say that for many of US, one
waking hour after ten o'clock at night
is worth two hours before nine in the
morning. We live double at the So
cial evening time, and to waste such
hours in sleep when there is spar
hour in the morning which may just
as we'll be spent in bed, is an unwise
substitution of the old maxims for new
experience. No doubt the old maxims
were wise, and would still be wise flour
conditions were of our great grand
fathers; but while the maxims stand
tho times have changed, and We have
j changed with them. We must have
aeociety, and We can only have it at
uaight; we must have ample rest, and
10 te can only take it in the morning.
N he stress of life with us is on the
.s, ain and nerves, and they can only
IN q the pressure by being allowed to
mr. SIP out. For q man whose work is
w 'htectual to have sleep violently
I'D cuehort every morning would be
~ equlent to suicide. True wisdom
We teacA us to adapt ourselves to our
Oh rcutances. Nature does not
gu cha"ean what was good for Our
no 'a'hen doubtless good for us, pro-
ot vioeo conditions are the same.
wv out WIZ this is not the case, we
en- must ny low their example to be.
w come q 9nny. Modern habits are
cir not moIeadiiy indulgent than the
90 hao'ts z Nier times, and they best
nd suit mofrneeds. :"
~ Ia -p..a.. .-.i J.
- - a yonf ~ asked an old man fol
W. his danateS in Marriage = Th.
~ answer :tGo into the;orchard
tie and brinA number, of ,apnIea