Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1897-07-24
THE SNORING HABIT.
Fearful Trials Of ~. Louis Wife
Told In Court.

4 worthy st. Louis woman Is apply.
Ing for a divorce OH the grounds that
her husband shores no that she cannot
sleep o nights. She has. she says, put
up with this habit with all wifely pa.
tience for many years, but the time has
come when she feels that she has some
rights, and one Of these II the right to
sleep. This has been denied her by
reason OF Mr.. Johns'-JOhns IL his
name-snOrlng habit. According to her
story, he begins his snoring as soon Us
he has read his evening newspaper II
few minutes. This, Of course, Is cXcus.
able In anyone who has to read St.
Louis newspaper. 1t Is said that the
people Of that city fall into a gentle
dOxe Just after reading the morning
journals ana again In the evening when
the other issues come out.
But these periods Of snoring do not
especially disturb Mrs. Johns. 1t II at
night. when slumber's chain has bound
both her and her spouse, that her trOu.
bles begin. Then 1t Is that Mr.. Johns
rouses himself to his greatest efforts In
the snoring line. and sleep comes no
more to the eye!ids Of his wife. 1t Is no
ordinary stertorous breathing. superin.
duced by some uncomfortable posi-.
ton, which Mr. Johns acquits himself
of. 1t Is not the puny effort OF man
oppressed by too great IN Indulgence
In untimely repasts ana suffering from
the visitation Of a nightmare shOd with
Welsh rabbits; 1t IL the deep rumble OF
the organ struggling with the diapa-
son: 1t is the cOmmlngled noises Of .hc
limited express passing ut full speed
over the Eads bridge ana cyclone
sweeping through the Ozarks; 1t is as II
10000 Mississippi boats We're whistling
and snoring at once. 1t Is something
Undescribably loud and shrill and deaf
ening from which Mrs. Johns prays
the court to relieve her without delay
and forever.
This is the first case In which the
snoring habit was made the ground for
divorce proceedings and the outcome
will be watched with interest. Count
less men aud women have had their
sleep ruined and their lives made mis-.
~ TIC bhOiiu6 VI tuVtt sAS sO"''
panions. and II Mrs. Johns Is granted
her decree 1t Is safe to predict that the
divorce courts will be flooded with
cases Of IA similar nature. How many
men have cOurted and won gentle and
Govelike creatures only, alas, to find
out that when married they could not
sleep in the same block unless they
filed their ears with cotton. How
many trusting women have found out
that the gOd-like men who woOed and
won them were, when asleep, the In
carnation of pandemOnium. Drink has
broken up thOusa nds Of homes, but 1t
isn't In the same class with the snoring
habit for making a hell Of married life.
There have been some great snOrcrs.
SuetOnlus tells Of Roman general
who kept the whole camp awake and
betrayed the presence of his troops to
the enemy by his snoring. Morse
mythology contains much about great
snorers. There was Knud, a mighty
snOrer, whose prOdigiOus efforts kept
awake the whole nOrthland and are
the subject of one of the minor sagas.
And there was IialfOr I1alfOrsOn.
whose snOres could be heard by the re-
turning vikings far out at sea, not to
mention snorri Sn0rrisOn, himself q