Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-08-10
lNSOM ANA.
Horrors of SleepIcssness and the
Vain Attempts to Evude Them

IoTrOFs OF NIeeplcs-neSs ana The
Vain Attempts TO Evnde Them
Those who are afflicted with insomnia
know 10 the full the futlity Of recipes, say.
the London Qu,c,,. Some advocate a Pine
needle pillow some a hop pillow Others on
so hard that IL might have jacobs stone N
the middle. For the first two you are OPP
pressed by their olor-oppresse rather than
soothtd, the last makes YOUR head ache and
gives you a sore spine ali the day alter.
Others, ga u, tell you 10 eat and drink lust
before gong 10 bed. a "nightcap" thew
saw of genial spirits with few biScu -
munched discreetly, will do wonders for You.
The blood will be brought from the brain 10
the stomach, aud an active digestion will
cure yOur sleepiess ness like magic You
follow their sdyice-the prescription being
plessant-and you find that you have TO take
your liver and your 'gouty diathetis' in
hand as the result with no better night. in
the nav % slumber than before. You are
told TO hathe your face and wrists IN cold
water, and YOU 10 SO whereby you have
swinging cold VIII ti confines YOU 10 bed fur
a week and TO the house Tor fortnight.
Then Won have mcutM Irophylact'c snd
you hear with envy how one man ca G him.
self OF insomnia, drives of the hays who be-
set him, aud wins back the sweet Genius OF
Sleep by counting imaginary sheep jumping
over an imaginary fence He goes of Ike a
lamb, he says, before he gets 10 the nun
dreth. ! on try the same experiment and Won
go on to a thousand or more-with the re-
suit Of feeling In kind Of ~hirlwnd, where
the 1yiug straws take the form Of feecy ewes
and the whirling dusthesps are scrobatic
rams. -Four jumping sheep become a tor
turing as 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 unbidden music
you think TO, exercise It by going over the
strain from the first note to the last. You
are conscientious in your memory, and Put
In every little trill and culver that NAV have
been Incorporated. Now then YOU think, YOU
have finally laid that noisy demon aud are
free to turn your mind u the contemplation
OF silence. Not lit OF IL. Suddenly the
tune starts out again, louder clearer, more
insisting than before, aud you have 20 co
over your work once more, and have for The
second time the bitterness Of failure. Yuu
try, too 10 come upon sleep by repeating
poetry-all the poetry you know. Sometime
this has lulling effect, as when YOU pound
away at pirc. known by heart as FAM iarly
Ne the alphabet. But for the most part Won
waken up Yourself 10y Just so much as you
think TO have sooihed; and the repetition OF
pOetry proves Ike the counting Of sheen a
mental stmulant instead " sedstive. Thtn
you sre wider awake than ever, aud your
pains are increased. not lightened
Then there flow In on ,ou all the sorrows
OF your life, aud everything you would gladly
forget insists ON be ny remembered with pho
tograpbic clesrucss aud In gigantic proper
tons Are you little at cross-corners with
a beloved friendl-the slight misunderstand-
ing which a few moments VI honest talk VIII
clear away, becomes the fsc'urc OF your friend
ship, which no time, no III 'rt can ever repair
The word that was - d IN thoughtfulsess be-
comes the intentional insult--the designed
outrage. The look that Ia no significance
at all becomes as the thrust ot sword and
the sting OF whip, and wherever Won can
torture yourself you do-sl because the pow
er Of sleep ha. gone from you and your fev.r
ish blood lie firing your ihrobb.n. brain. -
with ell your life. II you are In a momeniory
Without money Won are on the wee
ri ruin and the Threshold of the work house.
III you have had Rr inhBrtesims check ~
your career, YOU are cast down from your o.
cure holding aud can never make your iuutint
again. Whatever NAV have hspp'red 10 ruiIl4
tire still waters Of the lake anl hr ak
aeep silenc. ~ the woods isa caiaclV~in uo
less and sIecrlcssness eNa-grrstes like y"
micfophoue aud makes the 10 itstsl@ - rs
like the Swinging tread OF the yrennd ~
Thus you give your.elf up for lost. aud To- h
phs steal torments OF YOUR cond ton are sdd,i
the mental agones OF fear, DESPAIR AID ante
Ipated destructiOu-