The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1900-01-10

III of a style of disorder not much dis
% coursed upon and unfolds what must
be consolation to many people; text
= Psalms xvii, 4, ~"Thou holdest mine
eyes waking"
Sleep is the vacation of the Soul. IL
is the mind gone into the playground OIL
dreams: it is the relaxation OF muscles
and the solace of the nerves; 1t is the
hush of activities: it is the soft CURTAIN
ing of the eyes; it is trance OF elSnl
hours: it is a calming of the pulses; IL IS
a breathing much slower, though far
fleeper: it is temporary oblivion of all
carking cares: it is the doctor recognized
nv all schools of medicine; it is DIVINE
narcotic: it is a complete anesthetlc; 1t is
an angel of the night; it is great mercy
OF God for the human race. Lack OF 1t
puts patients on the rack of torture or III
the madhouse or in the grave. Oh, blessed
sleepi No wonder the Bible makes much
of it. Through sleep so sound that a
surgical incision Of the side of Adam did
not waken him came the best temporal
blessing ever afforded to mar-wifely
companionship. While in sleep on pill
low of rock Jacob saw ladder set up,
with angels coming down and climbing.
quized the psalmist Solomon listens at
the door of a tired workman and euio-
gizes his pillow by saying, 'The sleep of
Il laboring man is sweet Peter was
calmly sleeping between the two consta-
bles the night before his expected assas-
sination Christ was asleep in aaboat on
.Galilee when tossed i'll the euroclydon
The annunciation was made to Joseph in
- 4 &, Il IhnH &c q
sleep and the resurrection as glorious
Weakening out OF sleep. 81
He Could Not Command Sleep. >
On the other hand, insomnia, or sleep
iessness, is an .eld disorder, spoken of
again and again III the Bible. Ahasuerus
suffered from it. and we read, In that
night could not the King sleep Joseph
HALL. said Of that ruler. 'siIe that could
commands hundred and seven and TWEEN
ty.pr0riiiccs could not command sleep.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS had insomnia, and the
record is,1'IIis sleep brake from him."
Solomon describes this trouble and says,
Neither day nor night seeth he sleep
with his eyes" Asaph was its victim, for
he complains in my text that his eyes are
wide open at midnight, some mysterious
power keeping the upper and lower lids
from joining. Thou holdest mine eyes
waking
Insomnia. which has troubled all na-
tons and MI ages has its widest swing
in our land, because of the push and
speed of all styles of activities, as in no
other land. Where there is one man or
woman with equipoise of nerves there
are dozen with overweight and tam
gled ganglion. At some time in life al
most every one has had a touch of it. 1t
has been called "Americanitis." Last
night. there were, as there will be to-
night, millions of people to whom the
words of the text are appropriate utter
ance, Thou holdest mine eyes waking"
Wonderful is that law which Ralph
Waldo Emerson called the claw Of COM
pensation." and it has been SO arranged
that, while tho Woodworking populations
of the earth are denied many of the lux
uries, they have at least one luxury which
many Of the affluent of the earth are de-
MED and for which some Of them would
give millions OF dollars in cash down
namely, capacity to sleep. The most OF
those who toll with hand and foot do
not have to send out invitations to sleep.
They require no bromide or yalerian Or
sulphonal or triavol to put them to night
ly Inconsistencies. In five minutes after
their heads touch their pillows they are
as far off from the wall they were build
ing, or the ditch they were digging, or the
anvil they were pounding, or the wheels
they were controlling, as heaven is from
earth
The Unrighteous Sleep.
OF course there is an unrighteous sleep,
as when Jonah trying to escape from
duty, slept in the sides Of the ship while
the Mediterranean was in wrath because
Of that prophetic passenger; as when Co
lumbus i'll his first voyage, exhausted
from being up many nights, gave the
ship in charge OF the steersman and the
crew, who, leaving the management Of
the vessel to boys, went asleep and al
lowed the ship to strike on the sand
banks of st. Thomas. as when the
sentinel goes to sleep at his post, endan-
Sering the whole army; as when the slug
gard, who acconplishes nothing the day
before he went TO sleep and will accom-
pllsh nothing the day after he wakes,
fills up Solomonss picture OF him as he
yaWns ont, ~ little sleep and Il little
slumber and 4 little folding OF the hands |
10 sleep But sleep at the right time and
amid the right circumstances--can You
Imagine anything more blessed? If sleep. |
according TO sacred and profanc litcrsl-
turc, is in emblem of death, the morn
ing to all refreshed slumbers is Il resur-
rection.
Remark The first: If You have escaped
the Insomnia spoken OF in the text. thank
God. Here and there one can command
sleep, and ii comes the minute he orders
it and departs at the minute he wishes it
to go, as Napoleon when he wrote: DIFF
lerent affairs are arranged in my head
as in drawers. When I wish to interrupt
one train of thought / close the drawer
which contains that subject and open
that which contains another. They do
not mix together or inconvenience me-
| have never been kept awake by an in
voluntary preoccupation of mind When |
/ wish for repose. [ shut up all the
drawers. and / am. asleep. / have always I
slept when | wanted rest and almost at I
will But think III most cases we feel |
that sleep is not the result Of a resolution,
but direct gift from God. You cannot |
purchase it. A great French financier
cried out: Alas. Why is there no sleep