Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1873-10-22
Lying i'm Bed.

II convaiescent may be monarch of
all he surveys as he lies in bed, there
are cases in which man may be the
slave rather than the sovereign in that
kingdom of Sleepy Hollow. Rossini
furnishes case in point. Just sixty
years ago, in 1913, he lodged in worst
inns worst room, in Venice. He was
then one-andtwenty. unknown and am
bilious, also poor. He was composing
an opera, to be called '.H FigliO per
AZzardo," in winter weather; and, to
save the cost of fire, Rossini lay in bed.
He had just finished noting duet, when
the leaves slid off the sheets, and, gently
waving to the floor. were waited under
the couch. Rossini looked after them,
stretched out his arm to reach them,
and, finding them beyond his reach. he
flung himself back, with an al didUoto
col duettO !! / will note it over again y
The vein, however, was exhausted /; his
memory failed him, and again he looked
beneath the bed at the paper beyond
his reach. at would be unlucky to
pick it up" he said, "since it has
fallen. i will compose another. If l
ever grow rich, 1 will write my music
as other composers do in such weather
as this" In brief, Rossini noted
another duet. and had Just finished it
when a friend entered the room.
''Amico," cried Rossini. least your
eye on this; try 1t at the piano, and tell
me what you think ofit.''
The AMIGO did as he was told, and
expressed himself delighted.
'.Now," said the composer. put your
arm under my bed, pull out the paper
that lies there-another duet is noted
on it-and try that also"
The friend obeyed, and he protested
that the second duet was much to be
preferred to the first. Rossini rejoined
that what his friend called the second"
was in reality the first and he told the
story of how it had slipped off the bed
ont of his reach. The two friends-one
in, the other seated at the edge of the
bed-sang the two duets; and they
were of one opinion, that the duet from
below the bed was the better of the two.
After little while, the friend inquired
what Rossini meant to 90 with the
other.
at is done" replied the young COM
poser 81 have, by help ola few altera-
tions, turned it into teJ;=etto."
''rhns, by being too lazy to slip ont
of bed, he took the industrious pains to
write two duets instead of one, and to
change one Of the two into u terSettO.
The philosophy which urges the ex-
cellence of early rising has been very
rudely and successfully shaken. Charles
Il 4. 4. Il.
excess i'll rising with the lark and lying
down with the lamb as in the practice
referred to i'll Moore's song, which re-
commends lengthening of our days by
taking ga few hours from the night, my
dear !" That philosophy was shaken in
the early days of the world by two
sleepy children, who came under the
rebuke of vigilant fathers.
"My son." remarked one sire, 81
once found piece of gold by rising
early"
"Ay." rejoined the young hopeful,
"but the man who lost it was up before
you" ....
MY son." said the other worthy
parent, observe that it's the early bird
that catches the worm"
II do, o my father" replied the ex-
cellent boy ''also that the worm was
caught by getting mp earlier than the
bird"
1t has been considered not beneath
the dignity of Field Marshal the Duke
of Wellington to hold rank among the
of the bed and, as no
body knew that he had ever delivered
g. ,I,,.tr,
ting bed-doctrine, one has been stolen
for him, and his grace has been made to
wear it as if it were his own. "'When
a man turns in bed, it is time for him
to turn out. as the Duke of Wellington
used to say y So We are told, as if the
tield-marshal were always saying it.
Now, the phrase was favorite one
with our early arcl,1ishops, and it was
probably not original even on the lips
of the very earliest of the prelates to
whom 1T has been assigned by the Dean
of Chichester.
The earliest illustration oil the evils
of lying late in bed, which some of our
older people used to receive when they
were children, came to them from DIR.
Watts. Who has not keard of the
famous lines, with their halting phil
osophY p
'' Ts the voice Of the slaggara: heard him COM
plain,
'You have walked me too socni must slumber
again.
As the door on Its hinges, 50 he on his bed,
fGrns his sides, and his shoulders, and his heavy
head"
The door that turns on its hinges is
doing its duty as door, let Solomon
and DIR. Watts say what they will and
the wild-brier, the thorn, and the this
tie, which grew broader and higher in
his garden, were at least acting busily
according to the nature implanted in
them. And, after all, the so-called
n ri L....1 lc,,,