Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-02-07
BY REV. ii. r. HAwEIl.


Sleep. Ike any other appetite, can be culti-
vatsS snd pampered; and Just as every mouth
fnl Of food more than we really want is waste,
and something worse. so every wink Of sleep
more than we need is a dead loss and that with
out the redeeming quality of over-eating and
drinking, viz: pleasure. For to be asleep is not
pleasure, simply dead loss. To sleep from
eleven till nine in the morning is too much !;
from eleven till six should be. and Is for one
averagely healthy and normally constituted.
quite enough The point want to fix on es-
pecialv Is those two precious hours before break
fast. How many people only begin their day
after breakfast. say about ten O'Clock. myself
lived for nearly forty years without realizing
that had thrown away about twenty-one thou
sand nine hundred hours of good working life.
or course the candle cannot be burned at hf.I
ends You must get your sleep. have known
more than one professional man succumb to the
habit OF retiring too late and rising too early.
That was the beginning OF my poor friend the
late Baron Amphlett's collapse. As Q. C. he
never should have gone Into Parliament and
when he retired from the house on a judgeship
the mischief was done. He used to be up late
with briefs, or down at the house till two or
three, rise at SIX. light his own fire. and work
till nine. All such Oyer-pressure is, of course
bad. Young men may stand it for a few years
young men can stand almost anything tor few
years-but it is a vicious principle Give the
body Its dues, or the body Will revenge itself
Still to acquire the habit of early rising is worth
an effort. | recommend II for health and pleas
ure as we'll as for profit.
1 remember one glorious summer morning
when was boy. thought, Instead of lOll-
Ing In bed from five TIL eight. will have
spree. i got up soon after five. dressed.
stole down stairs and out along the glistening
hedgerows. full of May bloom and twittering
birds. | made my way Git is thrty-fve years
ago, all mel down to those country roads, then
fanked with fields and woods now adorned
with crowded smart villas, toward the great
square piece of water which formed the reser-
v0ir of the old Croydon Canal. Brambies will
lows, May trees and wood roses dropped over
its margin There were PUSHES and water
lilies. haunted by blue dragon flies and early
bees, in abundance. A wide grassy path went
all round the lake-it was about mile round
and forest Of low fir trees aud tangled copses
shut 10 in from the adjacent meadow lands IL
was q boys paradise. There | remained birds
nesting till about eight o'clock. | never smet
such fresh. balmy air; the sun seemed to distill
health and pleasure into my veins And |
thought. and have often thought since. of the
snoring thousands who might have such an eX-
perience as this. and be richer all their lives
sfterward, as have been, who yet. as old Watts
has it
Waste all their DAYS and their hours without mum
Der,
would probably only exclaim, in the words of
the same well-known poet:
You have naked me too soon, must slumber
again
like to hear OF young men who are out on
horseback for q ride before breakfast. before the
family meal. instead of those witless creatures
who come lolling into the deserted breakfast
room at about ii o'clock-just out of bed and
with cigar already in their mouths. No one
knows how radiant and vigorous nature looks
who has not cared TO assist her at early toilet,
and seen her bathing herself in crystal dew and
decking herself with opening blossoms between
and O'Clock on midsummer morning.
So much and how much more for the pleasure
seeker? But the early rising worker all the
year round is rewarded by an increase of pro-
duce, an economy OF time, and an inauguration
of mind and body.
Morning literary work is usually characterized
by freshness, continuity. grasp and vigor night
work by fever, excitement. and less condensa-
ton. This l believe TO be the rule; and With
exceptions. In speaking thus generally, 1t is. of
course, impossible TO deal.
or one thing am certain. that for all head
workers, especially literary men, the following
rules will be found golden:
To bed before twelve.
To work before seven.
As little liquid as possible, and no smoking
before breakfast.