Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1873-03-12
THE CHRONICLE
EARLY HOURS.
Unhealthy Society Customs.

Unhealthy Society Customs.
Longevity Is boon desired by most,
I though granted to comparatively few,
and persons of 6 foreboding turn
might derive much dismal satisfac-
ton from comparing the mortality
I statistics of the present with the past.
In spite of the cheerful evidences
70 the contrary, ~laboriOusIy gathered
by the rural prsss-in spite of that
venerable but prepOsterOus patriot
who has voted for every President
since Washington, and commonly
walks thirty miles through a driving
snow-storm to deposit his last ballot
it is to be feared that the average of
human life has been gradually de-
creasing as the world grows older
This, too, in face of the fact that all
the conditions of modern society are
vastly more in favor of health and
long life than in the days when the
world was really one broad field OF
battle, and he was an exceptionally
lucky man whom the doctors killed
and not the sword. Nowadays If
wars are rare, they are, generally
speaking, more deadly, and in the alb
seuee Of wars the higher state Of men
tai tension and excitement, in which
most civilized communities live. large
ly discounts vitality. PERHAPS that
is one of natures artfuI eompensa-
tiOns, a sort of clever Malthusian de-
Vice to adjust the average of pOpula-
ton, and c~unningly changed to suit
the wickedness of different ages.
Among the lesser causes which at
present operate against longevity
there is one which is none the less i'm
portantsbecause so few take il into &C
count. This is the insidious derange'
ment of the system resulting from
the late hours affected by polite sOcie-
ty. The preparatory powers of SLEEP
are seldom recognized any more than
the truth that to yield its fullest bene.
fitsthis most potent ofremedies should
be taken at the proper season. Who
that seasOn is, nature Enthusiastically
indicates. Most adults in a normal
condition, are conscious, about II
O'Clock at night of a tendency tC
drowsiness, sometimes called Jebrp
nOcturna-nAture's hint that 1t is time
to 20 to bed. Once banished, hover
er, slumber is q shy mistress not east
ly wOOed back, and after midnight q
corresponding difficulty is ~experieR
ced. IL is then almost like stating al
axiom to say that If all whose oecupa
tiOns in life permit it would make it
practice to go to bed before midnight
and sleep as long as their respective
constitutions required, avoiding, j
possible, evolutionary waking, thei
health would be the gamer.
But, as now regulated, how many
people in what is called society eve
get to bed before midnight, at leas
during the season? There is ball 81
a party or a reception to go to nearly
every night, which begins, on al
average, about 10, and ends, let Us say
at 2. AyOung woman who makes j
a practice to go to bed at that hour o
the morning, for three months of thi
year together, need not be surprised
to find the ose rapidly fading from
her cheeks. With young men tn
result is quite as bad. since the eXig
encies of business often deprive then
Of the proper amount Of most neees
Sary. Youth Is apt to think the bal
ance Of vitality ineXhaustible, and L
draw against il as lavishly as though
age and disease were not. But to the
older heads, to whose pillows sleep i:
a rarer visitor, can tell them its value
The remedy for all this is very sim
pie. Let our ball and parties only
begin a couple Of hours earlier
Everybody will have precisely th'
same amount of enjoyment, get u
bed in good time, and get up mex
morning feeling infinitely better thar
after one of these midnight rOuts.-
For some time past, among sensible
entertainers, there has been a move
ment in this direction. But it should
be systematic to be effective. Let i
once be understood that it is as un.
fashionable to come late TO an even
ing party as 1t is now supposed to b
to come early, and a reform, Whose
value is not to be measured by it,
seeming trivislity, would be accom-
plished at once.