, 1886-06-10
GOING TO SLEEP IN CHURCH.
A Churchroer's Experience and a Physi-
clans Practical Ideas.

doctors are consulted for strange rea-
sons sometimes" remarked a physician
the other day, but seldom has my pro.
fessional aid been sought on an odder
ground h was presented to me re-
Gently by an elderly gentleman who
offered himself for my treatment. He
wanted me to cure him of sleeping in
church. The happy thought had oc-
CURED to him of chewing tobacco-a
practice that he had abandoned for years
to keep himself awake, but he dropped
asleep all the same, partly swallowed his
first quid, and for a few minutes en-
crossed the attention of the entire con-
gregation by his wild, unstudied ex-
plosions and cavortings. The memory
of that bright but shameful season of I'M
hallowed excitement kept him wide
awake one Sunday, but the next he be-
gan to be drowsy just MS soon as the
preacher got agoing. His mental strug-
gle with somnolency kept him just out
side the edge of n good, comfortable
sleep, but nodding like a toy mandarin.
One minute he would nod forward,
further and further, until he threatened
to butt the stylish hat of the young
MOIlin III lut pew DtlOTt IT'LL, anu lIltD
would wake with a guilty start. The
next he would nod backward, more and
more, until a consciousness of losing his
balance startled him up, and he would
come erect with a choking gurgie and a
snort that almost made the preacher lose
the thread of his discourse.
by his wife's advice he tried caramels,
cloves, dried ginger, lemon peel, and he
could not remember what all else, but
the only time that system was a success
was when she rang in some Cayenne pep
per lozenges on him. When all else had
failed she grimly said that she would I'M
drriake the job Of keeping him awake.
And she did it-once. Just as he was
dropping off into a gentle doze and tun-
ing up for a catarrhal obligato he fairly
flew into the ar, with a remark that was
all that could be desired in point of en-
phasis, but the pious base of which was
sadly misplaced. She had jabbed shawl
pin into his leg. One of the deacons
came to see him during the week, and
said he thought that the provocation
might fairly be taken into account in
judging the sinfulness Of words uttered
in such hasty excitement. The deacon
/ suggested hat he should try prayer to
keep him awake; but, of course, he didn't
take much stock in hat advice, and
came to me-"
We'll, what did you do for him?r
About all that the least harmful MEM
bers of my profession do in most cases
nothing. 1 told him he might drink very
strong tea or coffee before going to
church, and that would probably keep
him awake, but the tea would play the
deuce with his stomach and nerves, and
the coffee would be likely to damage his
liver, so he had better let both alone.
His wife's experiment with the shawl
pin had demonstrated hat a nerve could
be SO irritated as to insure wakefulness,
and for that treatment he could find the
required nerve pretty much anywhere
that a pin could be got at him. AS for
posture, he couldn't go to sleep as long
as he would stand on titoe."
why is the tendency to sleep in church
so common, especially among mem"
"There are several reasons. One is the
temperature. In winter the church is,
as a rule, too warm, and the effect of q
warm atmosphere upon persons entering
it from the outside cold is to make them
drowsy, almost irresistibly, unless they
have some very strong mental or phys
ical interest or stimulant to keep them
wakeful. Then special means af-
forded for Morpheus to attack >
cs, both by the ear and the |
noises of the world outside are. :
possible, excluded, and the only Id
that is heard for a long time is the
preachers voice in measured cadences,
little m%odulated, lulling to sleep as in
evitably as does the soft sound of rip
pling water, or the pattering of rain
drops on the roof. That monotonous
flow of words is more likely than perfect
silence to make a person drowsy. As
for the effect through the eyes, there is
the dim, religious light common in
churches, and, second, the straining and
unnatural position in which the eyes
tor narcbod in n n,,lp;t or on n nI,tform