St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-11-20
VOLUME 4s---NUMBER 24e9

are now as harmonious a group as. are
often to be found.
"You want to know how ] did it,m
she said, one day in recent visit. 81
didn't do it at all. 1t was single beds,
Bess and Mabel slept together YOU
| know, and | had incessant trouble try
ing to keep Mabel warm enough and
Bess cool enough. Bess could not bear
to be touched, and Mabel could not
bear not to be. No matter how Bess
fought her of, the moment sleep came,
Mabel rolled over and had her arms
around her. ] put bar between, but
it made little difference. 1t was pre-
cisely the same case with the two boys.
One day, it came to me all ut once, as
looked mt the baby quiet and COM
Portable in his crib, these children need
separate beds. / had thought and
talked often enough OF the influence of
| people on one another, but never
dreamed of applying it to them. What
fool you have been y | said to my
self Here they are, all with marked
individnallties and with the most diff
fering physical characteristics. Mabel
draws on Bess and exhausts her ner-
vous force every night, and Harry
| uOCS tUt same. l VIII see ii III can
be mended.' We are not Overburden-
ed with money, and l had to think and
plan before | cOnlG change the big
double beds for single ones. | had
the mattresses made over, and succeed
ed in making change with an amiable
old furniture dealer. The children
were delighted the day the four pretty
single beds were set up. In week |
saw a difference, and i'll II month it
was so marked that every ono noticed
| it. Each one had freedom, just the
amount of covering required, and
| slept quietly and almost dreamlessly.
Not room in my house save the spare
room has anything now but single
bed, and the gain has been for every
one of us. 1t makes no more, or very
little more work. Sheets are smaller
and more easily washed, and if it
doubles the work l should still know
the gain to be incalculable. Half the
| lill-temper of the world comes from the
electrical changes undergone by the
nervous system where couples sleep
| night after night under the same bed
clothing, for life is system of giving
and taking in more ways than one,
and | want you who preach the things
that make for peace to preach this
also.n
| had come to the same faith and did
not need this cxhortation, but there
are many who do and who would find
the difference immense We're they once
willing to try the experiment. The
Scientific American some time ago
made forcible plea for the adoption
of the habit, writing:
There is nothing that will more de-
range the nervous system of II person
who is eliminative in nervous force
than to lie all night in bed with anoth-
or person who is absorbent in nervous
force. The absorber will go to sleep
and rest all night, while the eliminator
will be tumbling and tossing, restless
and nervous, and wake up in the morn
ing fretful, peevish, fault-fnding and
discouraged. No two persons, no
matter who they are, should habitually
sleep together. One will thrive and
the other will lose.
Even for the most phlegmatic this
has proved itself true, and the matter
demands not only the consideration of
mothers, but of all who desire the best
and most efficient life Congregation
alist.