The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-01-19

for 365 resurrections in a year, Artif-
cial slumber can be made up by the
apothecaries. but natural sleep is a
balm, a panacea, a catholicon that no
one but God can mix. With Ii he battles
your eyes and brain n nerve and
bone. 1t is a soft robe woven in
heaven, with which he wraps your
body, mind and soul. The more scien-
lists explore this mystery Of sleep the
more profound il seems. God tells us
many things, but that is a secret he
keeps to himself. We p~hilosophize and
guess about this phenomenon, but will
never know Just what sleep is until we
are told about ii when We get through
the last sleep. Thank God morning.
noon and night for this strange Quie-
tude. this refreshing dismissal, this
reeuperating absence, this REINFORCE
ment of energies, this mighty benedic-
ton.
THEY SLEPT BY DAY.
Remark the second: Consider among
the worst crimes the robbery OF our
selves or other OF this mercy of siumber
Much ruinous doctrine has been incul-
Gated on this subject Thomas Moore
gave poor advice when he said, THE
best way ID lengthen our days is to
steal a few hours from the night" We
are told that, though they did their
work at night, C~Cpernicus lived to be
70 years of age and Galilei rs years and
Herschel 81 years Yes, but the reason
was they were ali star hunters, and
the only time for hunting stars is at
night. Probably 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 o hours Of
the night abed, and Justinian, after one
hour of Sleep, would rise from his couch
But you are neither a Justinian o a
Lord Brougham. Let not the absurd
~apotheosis of early rising induce you
to the abbreviation of sleep. Get up
when you are slept out unless circum-
stances compel otherwise. Have I'D
alarm clock making its nerve tearing
racket at 4 O'Clock in the morning, UNI
less special reasons deman the forSak-
ing of your pillow at hat hour. Most
of the theories about early rising we
inherited from times when people re-
tired at s or 9 O'Clock i'm 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 for the world if some people "
er wakened at all.
But most Americans do not get sleep
enough. The sin of late retiring is n
most widespread and %ruinouS. What is
much needed is that in all cities
those who are leaders in social life turn
back the hour of drawing room assem-
blage frcan 10 and IL O'Clock to s or
half past Z, so that the guests at 10 or
half past 10 may meet sleep ait the right
hour in their own d~ormitories. Two
or three social heroines could do that
in all the towns and cities. Thousands
of men and women are slain each year
by late hours. Five years is more than
n 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 nervus prostration, and the beauty
goes out of the cheek beyond all res
toration of cosmetics. Late retiring is
the mother of premature wrinkles.
Lack of sleep .asSasSinates social life.
A reformation is needed. and if the
customs of the world could be changed
in this matter and h curtains OF So
cial life could be rung down ait a reas-
enable hour of the night 20 pen cent.
would be added to the worlds longev-
ity.
AN HONORABLE WOUND.
Remark the third: All those ought to
be comforted who by overwork in right
directions have come to insomnia. In
all occupations and professions there
are times. when a special draft is made
upon the energy. There are
thousands of men and nm whO cam
not sleep because they were injured by
overwork in some time OF domestic or
political or religious eXigency. Mothers
who, after taking a whole family of
children through the disorders that are
sure to strike the nursery, have been
left physical wrecks, and n entire
night of slumber is to them a rarity,
if not an impossibility. The attorney
at law who through a long trial in poor
ly Ventilated courtroom a 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 unfa-
vorable. In his he tries the case
all night long, and every night, when
he would like ito be Slumbering. The
physician, in time of epidemics, worn
out in saving the lives of whole fami-
lies and failing in his attempts to sleep
at night between the jangling of his
door bell. The merchant who has ex-
perienced panics, when the banks went
down and Wall street became a pande-
monium, and there was a possibility
that the next day he would be penniless
that night with no more possibility
of gaining sleep than If such a blessing
had never touched u planet. Minis