Richland beacon., 1888-10-13
Why Don't tam sleep,

O.. Why Don't t"n sleep.
Those whOare afflicted with iHsom
mia know To the full the futility o
recipes. Some advocate pine nerdl,
pillow: some II oppillow; Others. on,
so hard that il might have Jacob.
stone in the middle. For he first
two YOU are oppressed by their olOl
oppressed rather than soothcd: thC
last makes your head ache and gives
YOU II sore spine all the day after
Others. again. tell yon to eat and
drink just before going To bed.
4 "nightcap" they say. of genial
spirits. with II few biscuits munchcd
discrctely, will do wonders for YOU.
The blood is brought from the brain
to the stomach. and an active indi,
gestiOn will cure yOur slccpleesnpss
Ike magic. You follow their advice
the prescription being pleasant
and you find that YOU have to take
your liver and your 'gouty diathe-
sis in hand as the result. with no
better nights in the way of sleep than
before, You are told to bathr your
face and wrists i'll cold water. and
You do SO. whereby you have a
swingcing cold which confines YOU in
bed for Il week and to the house for n
fortnight.
Then you have mental prophylac-
tics. and YOU hear with envy how one
man cures himself of insomnia.
drives off the hags who beset him,
and wins back the sweet genius of
sleep by counting imaginary sheep
jumping over an imaginary fence. He
goes off like lamb. he says, before
he gets to the hundre,tiI. You try
the same experiment, and YOU go on
to thousand or mOre-with the re-
suit of feeling in n kind Of whirlwind
where the flying straws take the form
of fleecy ewes, and the whirling dust
heaps are acrobaticrams.
Your jumping sheep become as tor
turing rs that barrel organ tune
which sounds in your ears. do what
you will, and they stick to your brain
as the tune sticks-reason or none
AS for that unbid,len music. YOU
think to exercise it by going over he
strain from the first note TO the last.
You are conscientious in your memo
ry and put in every little thrill and
quaver that may have been incorpo-
rated. Now. then, You think YOU
have finally laid that noisy demon.
and are free to turn your mind to the
contemplation of silence. Not IL bit
Oft. suddenly the tune starts out
again. louder clearer. more insisting
than before, and YOU havetO go over
your work once more. and have for
the second time the bitterness of fail
ure. lOu try. too. TO come upon
sleeping by repeating poetry-all the
poetry You know. Sometimes this
has n lulling effect, as when YOU
pound away at n piece YOU know by
heart rs familiarity as the alphabet.
But. for the most part, you waken
up yourself by Just so much as YOU
think to have soothed. and the rep,
ltition of poetry proves, like the
counting of sheep. a mental stimu,
liant instead of IL sediment. Then
you are wider and wider awake than
ever. and your pains are increased.
not lightened, says he London
Queen.
Then there flow in on YOU all the
sorrOws of your life, and everything
You would gladly forget insist on he,
ing remembered with Photographic
clearness and gigantic proportions.
AreyOua little at cross-corncrs with
Il beloved friend?-the slight misun.
derstanding which Al few moments OF
honest talk will clear away become
the fracture of your fl friendship, which
no time. no effort can repair. Tn,
word that was said in thoughtIcssncsi
becomes the Intentional insnlt-thG
designed outrage. Thclook that had
no significance at all becomes as TIN
thrust OF "A sword and the sting of
whip; and whenever .yOu can tOrtur,
yourself .yOu do-all because the pow,
er of sleep has gone from YOU and
your feverish blood is firing your
thrObbing brain. SO with all your
life. IfyOu are in II mOmentary dif.
ficulty about money. YOU are on the
verge OfrIin and the Threshold OF
the wOrkhorsc II You have had an
infinitesimal check in your career YOU
are cast down from your secure hold
ing, nnl can never make YOUR foot
ing sure again. Whatever may have
happened to rufilc the still waters of
the lake and break the deep silence of
the woods is Il catacly ysh no less of
exerag@erates like n
and makes The footsteps
OF a fly like the swinging tread of the
grenadicr Thus yon give yourself
up for lost and TO the physical tor
ments of your condition are added
the mental a9Onies of fears, despair
and anticipated destruction.