Evening star., 1896-10-31
TAKES HIS SLEEP STANDING.

A California Man Who Lives In n
Sentinel Box and Never Lies Down.
From the San Francisco Call.
Jake Rogers says that he Is the only man
IN the world who sleeps standing up. And
most likely he is right about it. although
there are many men living who claim to
have done 1t under compulsion during the
last war. Jake also says that the reason
he is so healthy Is because he sleeps the
way he does. Most people, however would
prefer to have little less health and a
little more comfort.
The place where Jake has his home is
not a very we'll populated one. 1t Is in
Mendocino county. only a few niles north
east of Los Robes. and the nearest neigh
Dor is some distance from his place. But
then Jake doesn't want neighbors so that
feature is really an inducement for him.
In fact Jake says that the reason he took
up his present abode was to get rid of
neighbOrS. He Is not of very good dis
position. and an effort to get him to talk
about anything but himself will surely re-
suit in failure.
1t Is safe to say that Jake's house is the
only one of its kind in the world. 1t is
built to sleep standing up in, and it would
be impossible for a person to sleep in 1t
any other way unless he curled up like
bear Jake built the house himself out of
boards and logs that he picked up in diff
ferent parts of the country 1t Is a queer
looking affair. having greatly the appear
ance of chimney with roof on it, and
a very diiapidated roof at that. But the
shanty is strong one and keeps out the
wet, and that is all that Is required. Even
the latter is not required the greater part
of the year In that section. There is only
one door and no windows.
While tie outside of the house may lcok
queer. the inside looks Queerer. There Is
only one piece of furniture, and that is
what Jake calls his bed. 1t really looks
more like coffin standing end, for 1t
Is a sort of box tilted back only a few
inches from the perpendicular. 1t is railed
at the bottom and also at the top. so that
1t is immovable. The inside of it is lined
with straw covered with cloth, to give 1t
little comfort in cold weather, Jake says
When Jake wants to sleep all he does Is
to lie back In his box and close his eyes
He says it doesn't take him long to for
get his troubles In the next breath he
will tell you he has no troubles since he
took to sleeping standing up.
Jake does 10 cooking in his house sim
ply because there is no room. His culi-
nary department Is located under a tree
a short distance away His food consists
OF anything he can get by begging, bor-
rowing or finding But he don't do much
borrowing since the neighbors have grown
to know him.
''The way / sleep is the only right way
for anybody to sleep" said Jake, land
the sooner people come to their senses and
do as / do the sooner disease will be
stamped out of the world The noblest
animal of all is the horse, and he sleeps
standing up How did / come to find out
that it was the right way? Oh, that is
easy enough to answer.
You see. 1 was sick as a boy way
back in Massachusetts,. about seventy
years ago. and nothing I did done me no
sort of good There always was some
thing the matter, and 8 soon as 1 laid
down in bed my head began to ache. But
do you know | stood that for half q CEN
tury before / got any sense into me? And
then l was out in California digging for
gold
zone night my head ached SO bad 1
couldn't stay in bed and had to stand
against the wall to get relief. Without
knowing ii fell asleep, and when / woke
up / felt like a new man. made up my
mind to sleep that way all the time but
had trouble to find place to do 1t. That
is the reason / moved out to this place.
It's over fifteen years ago, and / have
never had a sign of the old trouble. and
am convinced that sleeping in bed Is the
cau!e of all the pain and disease in the
world Sleep standing up and you will be
a new man in a short time
The strange thing about Jake's theory Is
that he admits that he doesn't rest when
he sleeps standing Up. He has to do that
under the trees the next day. He says
that has nothing to do with his idea,
though. for most people do too much work,
anyhow.