The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-01-12

I
| open that which contains another.
| They do not mix together or inoonveni-
ence me. have never been kept awake
by an involuntary preoccupation of
mind. When | wish for repose, ! shut
| up all the drawers. and | am asleep.
have always slept when | wanted rest
/ and almost at will" But ! think in
most cases we feel that sleep is not the
| result OF a resolution, but a direct gift
| from God. Hou cannot purchase il. A
| great French fina meier cried out: ALAS!
| Why is there no sleepto be sold ?".
Do not take this divine gift as mat
ter of course. Your seven or eight
hours Of heaIthful Inconsistencies is
a blessing worthy of continuous and
| emphatic recognition. Praise the Lord
| for 365 resurrecIions in a year! Arti-
fetal slumber can be made up by the
| apothecaries, but natural sleep is a
balm, a panacea. a cathoucon that no
| one but God can mix. With it he
| bathes your eyes and brain and nerve
anC bone. 1t is soft robe woven in
| Heaven, with which He wraps your
body, mind and soul. The more scien-
y
| more profound il seems. God tells US
many things. but that is a 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 il when we get
through the last sleep. Thank God
morning, nopn and night for this
strange quietude, this refreshing dis
missal, this recupeTating absence, this
Reinforcement OF energies, this mighty
benediction.
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 10 steal few
hours from the night" We are told
that, though they did their work at
night, Copernicus lived TO be .3 years
of age and Galilei IS years and Herschel
s4 years. Yes, but the reason was they
were all 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 JustiIian, after one hour of sleep,
would rise from his couch. But you are
neither a JuStinian nor Lord
Brougham. lie: not the absurd apothe-
osis of early rising induce you TO the alb
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
ories 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. Ii all depends upon what
you do after you get up. 1t would be
better for 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 al the right hour in their own
dormitories. Two or three social
heroines could DO that in all the towns
and cities. Thousands of men and wom-
en- are slain each year by late hours.
Five years is more than the average
of endurance. The vitality of men and
women is depleted, and they go into
chronic ailments, if they DO not die
of dyspepsia or consumption or nervous
prostratiou, and the beauty goes out
of the cheek beyond all restoration of
cosmetics. Late retiring is the mother
of premature wrinkles. Lack of sleep
assassinates social life. y reformation
is needed, and if the customs of the
world could be changed in this matter
and the curtains of social life could be
rung down at a reasonable hour of the
night 20 per cent. would be added to the
worlds longevity.
All those ought to be comforted who
by OyerwOrk in right directions have
come TO insomnia. In all occupations
and professions there are times when
a special draft is made upon the nervous
energy. There are thousands of men
and women who cannot sleep because
they were injured by overwork in some
time of domestic or political or relig-
ious eXigency. Mothers who, after TAX
ing a whole family of children through
the disorders that are sure TO strike
the nursery, have been left physical
wrecks, and one entire night of slum-
ber is TO them a rarity, if not an i'm
possibility. The attorney at law who
through a long trial in poorly venti-
lated courtroom has stood for weeks
battling for the rights of widows and
orphans or for the life of a client in
whose innocence he is confident, though
all the circumstances are uufavorable.
In his room he tries the case all night
long, and every night, when he would
like 10 be slumbering. The physician,
In time of epiGemics, worn out in saw
ing the lives of whole families and fail
ing in his attempts 10 sleep at night
between the janglings of his door bell.
The merchant who has experienced
panics, when the banks went down and
Wall street became a pandemonium,
and there was a possibility that next
day he would be penniless-that night |
with no more possibility of gaining
sieeD than If sucn a blessing had pevar