The free state., 1900-01-20

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slept the night before.
Wakefulness may be an opportunity for
| prayer, opportunity for profitable renee
| tion, opportunity for kindEHg bright ex-
pectations OF the world. where there Is no
night and where slumbef will have no
uses. God thinks just as much OF you
when you get but three or four hours oil
sleep as when at night you get eight or
| nine hours.
Remark the fifth: Let all insomnists
know for their consolation that some
people sleep more rapidly than others, as
| much In one hour as others do In two, ana
hence do not require as long time In un-
! consciousness. In book on the subject OF
health years ago saw this fact stated by
celebrated medical scientist: Some people
| do everything quick-they eat quick, they
walk quick, they think quick, and OF
course they sleep quick. An express train
can go as far IN thirty minutes as way
| train In sixty minutes. People OF rapid
| temperaments ought not to expect whole
night to do the work OF recuperation which
slow temperaments require. Instead OF
making 1t matter of irritation and alarm
be a Christian philosopher and set down
this abbrcvIation Of somnolence as matter
| Of temperament.
Remark the sixth: The aged insomnists
should understand that II their eyes are
held waking they do not require as much
sleep as once they did. Solomon, who IN
| knowledge was thousands OF years ahead
| OF his time In his wondrous description Of
| old age, recognizes this fact. He not only
| speaks of the difficulty of mastication on
the part OF the aged when he says, "The
grinders cease becau SO they are few" and
of the oetogenarian's caution In getting up
a ladder or standing on scaffoldlng, say
ing, 'They shall be afraid OF that which Is
high" and speaks OF the whiteness OF the
hair by comparing 1t to a tree that has
white blossoms, saying, 60 The almond tree
shall flourish" and speaks Of the spinal
cord which Is the color OF silver, and which
relaxes IN old age, giving the tremor TO
the head, saying, ''The silver. cord
be loosed." But he says of the
the bird;'' that is about half past
In the summer time, an appropriate hour
for the bird to rise, for he goes to his
nest or bough at half past in the evening.
But the human mechanism has been SO
arranged that after 1t has been running a
good while change takes place, and In
stead of the almost perpetual sleep of the
babe and the nine hours requisite in mid
life six hours will do for the aged, and che
shall rise up at tue voice OF the bird" Let
all aged men and women remember that
they have been permitted to do a great
deal OF sleeping In their time and that II
they do not sleep so we'll now as they used
to 1t Is because they do not require so much
sleep.
Remark the seventh: Insomnia Is prob
ably q warning that you had better mod
crate your work. Most OF those engaged
In emplOyments that pull on nerve and
brain are tempted to omit necessary rest
and sleeplessness calls a halt. Even their
pleasuring turns to work. AS Sir Joshua
Reynolds, the great painter, taking walk
with friend, met sun Drowned peasant
boy and said, 81 must 90 home and deepen
the colorlng Of my infant Hercules" The
sun Drowned boy suggested an I'M
proVement In great picture. By
the time most people have reached
midlife, IL they have behaved
we'll more doors OF opportunity open be-
fore them than they ought to enter.
Power to decline, power to say "No,"
they should now cultivate. When a man
Is determined to be useful and satan can
not dissuade him from that course, the
great deceiver induces him to oYerwork
and In that way get rid OF him. We have
therm mometers to tell the heat, and baron
eters to tell the air, and ometers hung In
engine rooms to tell the pressure OF steam,
and ometers to gauge and measure almost
everything. Would that some genius
would invent an Ometer which, being hung
around the ne;k and dropped over
heart and lung. would by the pulsa-
tion and respiration, tell whether one
Is under too great pressure or might carry
moro. All brain workers would want such
an ometer and want 1t right away. For
the lack OF 1t how many are dying and how
many have died OF overwork? A prominent
f1nancier who recently departed this life
was an officer In over 100 financial and
charitable institutions. Thousands OF
editors, OF lawyers, OF physicians, OF
merchants, OF clergymen, are now dying
OF overWork. Do not be In the board OF
a
two trust companies and five life and
fire Insurance establishments. Do not
as pastor preach more than three SER
mons u Sunday and superIntend your
own Sabbath-school and conduct
Bible class the same day. Do not edit
a paper and write for three magazines
| and go to tour public dinners where you
will be called to make speech more than
four times a week. Do not go so deep in
to the real estate business that before
spring all the real estate you will really
possess will be a piece Of ground about six
feet long and three feet wide. Your In
somnia is the voice OF nature, the voice OF
God, saying, "Better slow usl'' Stop that
| long, swift train the wheels OF which are
taking fire from the velocity and smoking
with the hot box. Do not burn the candle
at both ends. Do not under too many
burdens sweat like camel trudging from
Aleppo to Damascus. Do not commit sui-
eide.
Remark the eighth: All the victims OF
insomnia ought to be consoled with the
fact that they will have a good, long sleep
after while. Sacred and protane lltera-
ture again and again speak OF that last
sleep. God knew that the human race
would be disposed to make great ado
about exit from this world, and 80 He in
spires Job and d avid and Daniel and John
| and Paul to call that condition "sleep."
of Rot hn hrA hnr xuhn
| support OF his sisters after their father and
mother were gone had himself expired,
Christ cried out in regard to him,
"He is not dead, but sleepeth." Cheer
ing thought to all poor sleepers, for
that will be a pleasant. sleep, In
duced by no narcotic, disturbed by no
frightful dream, interrupted by no harsh
sound. Better than any sleep you ever
took, o child Of God. will be the last sleep.
In your slumbers your home may be In
| vaded by burglars and your treasures car
ried of, but while here and there, In one
case out OF millions, the resurrectiontst
may disturb the pillow OF dust the last
sleep is almost sure to be kept from inva-
sion. There will be no burglary of the tomb.
And 1t will be refreshing sleep, You have
sometimes risen in the morning more weary
than when you laid down at night, but
waking from the sleep OF which l speak
the last fatigue, the last ache. the last
Worrlment, VIII De forever Soue' VI, WnaI
| refreshing sleepl
So my bearer, my reader, GOOD night"
May God give you such sleep tonight as
is best for you, and II You wake too soon
may He fill your soul with "reminiscences
and expectations that will be better than
slumber. Good night Having in prayer,
kneeling at the bedside, committed your
| self and all yours to the keeping OF the
slumberless God, fear nothing. The
pestllence that walketh In darkness will
not cross your doorstill, aud you need not
be afraid OF evil tidings. Good night