The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1900-02-15
BENTON. LOUISIANA. THURSDAY FEBRUARY Is. 1900.

q blessing worthy of continuous and
emphatic recognition. Praise the Lord |
for 365 resurrections in year! Arti-
fetal slumber can be made up by the |
apothecaries, but natural sleep is q
balm, a panacea, catholicon that no |
one but God can mix. With it he !
bathes your eyes and brain and nerve
and bone. 1t is soft robe woven in
Heaven, with which He wraps your
body, mind and soul. The more scien- |
fists explore this mystery of sleep the
more profound it seems. God tells us
many things, but that is secret He
keeps to Himself. We philosophize and
guess about this phenomenon. but will
never know just what sleep is until
we are told about it when we get
through the last sleep. Thank God
morning, noon and night for this
strange quietude, this refreshing dis
missal. this recuperating absence, this
reinforcement of energies, this mighty
henediction.
Consider among the worst crimes
the robbery of ourselves or others OF
the mercy of slumber. Much ruinous
doctrine has been inculcated on this
subject. Thomas Moore gave poor ad-
vice when he said: "The best way to
lengthen our days is to steal a few
hours from the night" We are told
that, though they did their work at
| night, Copernicus lived to be 73 years
of age and Galilei rs years and Herschel
s4 years. Yes, but the reason was they
were ali star hunters, and the only time
for hunting stars is at night. Prob
ably they slept by day. The night was
made for slumber. The worst lamp a
student can have is "the midnight
lamp" Lord Brougham never passed
more than four hours of the night abed,
| and Justinian, after one hour of sleep,
would rise from his couch. But you are
neither a Justinian nor a Lord
Brougham. Let not the absurd apothe-
osis of early rising induce you to the abb
breviation of sleep. Get up when you
are slept out, unless circumstances
compel otherwise. Have no alarm clock
making its nerve-tearing racket at four
O'Clock in the morning, unless special
reasons demand the forsaking of your
pillow at that hour. Most of the the
cries about early rising we inherited
from times when people retired at eight
or nine o'clock in the evening. Such
early retirement is impossible in our
own times for those who are taking
part in the great activities of life.
There is no virtue in the mere act of
early rising. 1t all depends upon what
you do after you get up. 1t would be
better Cor the world if some people
never wakened at all.
But most Americans do not get sleep
enough. The sin of late retiring is one
most widespread and ruinous. What
is much needed is that in all our cities
those who are leaders in social life
turn back the hour of drawing-room
; assemblage from ten and eleven to
, eight or half-past seven, SO that the
, guests at ten or half-past ten may meet
sleep at the right hour in their OWL
, dormitories. Two or three social
, heroines could do that in all the towns
en- are slain each year by late hours
r Five years is more than the average
of endurance. The vitality of men anc
, women is depleted, and they go. into
: chronic ailments, if they do not die
> of dyspepsia or consumption or nervous
prostration, and the beauty goes ou
o of the cheek beyond all restoration O.
cosmetics. Late retiring is the mother
= of premature wrinkles. Lack OF sleeI
!. assassinates social life. A reformation
! is needed, and if the customs of th'
: world could be changed in this matte
| and the curtains of social life could b.
rung down at reasonable hour of tn
6 night 20 per cent. would be added to tn
. worlds longevity.
. All those ought to be comforted VIII
h by overwork in right directions hav
!. come to insomnia. In all occupation
!. and professions there are times whel
), a special draft is made upon the neryou
!. energy. There are thousands of me,
e and women who cannot sleep becaus
I they were injured by overwork in som
e time of domestic or political or relig
5 ious exigency. Mothers who, after tax
: ling a whole family of children throug
e | the QlSOTUCTS ludt are SuTC ~ StIlh
S the nursery, have been left physica
n wrecks, and one entire night of slun
= ber is to them rarity, if not an i'm
: possibility. The attorney at law VIII
e through long trial in poorly vent
10 lated courtroom has stood for week
4 battling for the rights of widows an
- orphans or for the life of client i
= whose innocence he is confident, thoug
all the circumstances are unfavorabl,
l. In his room he tries the case all nigh
: long, and every night, when he woul
a like to be slumbering. The physician
a in time of epidemics, worn out in sa'
4 ing the lives of whole families and fai
:. ing in his attempts to sleep at nigl
q between the janglings of his door bel
:. The merchant who has experience
"a panics, when the banks went down an
"a Wall street became pandemoniur
= and there was possibility that ne,
i. day he would be penniless-that nigl
&c with no more possibility of gainin