American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1881-06-18
you've had your tale, go and say good
night, for it's high time for by-by."-
Dauid Ker, in Harper's Young Folks.
Early Rising, by a Boy Orator.

" Early to bed and early to rise
Makes man healthy, wealthy and WISE"
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The text L have chosen for my dis
course is most beautifully homely; but
it contains the keen kernels of truth,
without husk or chat. All the brute
creation close their peepers.at the set
ting of the sun, save such as see best
in. the dark and whose deeds are evil.
Why should man be an exception, since
he Is neither an OWL nor. bat, that.
sleeps through the day. for want of
properly adapted opticsp see no
reason under the planet of Jupiter why
you should not go to bed as soon as
evening empties her soot-bag upon the
earth, and get out of it at the first blush
of morning. Even ten hours; of sleep
would do you no harm after you get
used to-it, and know the most of you
are able to. bear twice the quantity
without grunt. .5a,s az. =.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Look at that
man, the early riser. The rose of
health blooms upon his cheek. His eye
sparkles with the fire and glow of
youth; his step il a. elastic as though
his legs were set with wire spiral
springs, and his body composed of
india-rubber. He is strong. too, aye,
stronger than last winters butter
stronger than an argument-stronger
than horse and tougher than boarding.
house beef. He can outjump, outwalk,
outrun and outliEe any human being
that never leaves his bed until nine
o'clock. don't care where you bring,
him from = whether from enticing
Greenland or from the soft, sunny cline
Of the Equator. He is infusible. He is
not to be fried in his own fat by the
melting heat Of a. midsummer sun. He
can bare his bosom to the bitter, north
or a shiver than the Bunker Hill Monu-
ment in . snow-storm. '.sii5 ais !.
! Oh! you puny,, sickly, satfron-skinned
sluggards that never see the sun rise!
You lose glorious sight; an exhibition
that affords more delight 10 both eye
and soul than all the shows ever pre-.
scented to mortal view, the Aurora
;Borealis, that Unanimous meteoric phe-
noanenon, and Barnum's. Museum not
excepted. cannot paint the picture.
When think of it discouraged fancy
drops her pencil at once and says,
:" It's no use" Try and get up and
take peep for yourselves at least once
in your lives; then. if. you think it a
humbug, go to bed-again and snooze
till the day Of Judgment, for anght
care.
But how do you feel shaking your
feathers when the sun is hard upon the
meridianp Rather streaked, L imagine
almost afraid to venture into the streets
for fear your shadow should laugh at
you. You muster up courage to venture
out. "Shocking steamboat accident
that, according to the account in the
papers," says an acquaintance whom
you happen to meet. ''What 40
oh!-ah-hem-yes.y yes. shocking. very
shocking, indeed! Good-day." And you
speed with most nervous rapidity for
fear of being further Intercepted about
what you ought to have known hours
before. You morning sleepers! know
you not that you lose by driblets the
very honey of life-the quintessence of
all that is joyful. bright and lovely in
existencep You do. While others are
alive, stirring about, securing health.
accommodating wealth, happy and merry
as larks-you lie as dead as SO many
logs; intellectually decaying, morally
rotting and corporeally consuming.
Arise ye! arise ye! shake off sloth, even
as the lion shaketh the dew from his
name. Go out and behold the beauties
of the morn in all their glory and
maghificence, and become healthier,
wealthier, wiser and handsomer human
beings than you are.