Connecticut western news., 1900-01-11

the worst crimes the robbery of our selves or others of this mercy of slum- Der. Much ruinous doctrine has been inculcated on this subject. Thomas Moore gave poor advice when he said, ''The best way to lengthen our days is to steal 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 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. Probably they slept by day. The night was made for slumber. The worst lamp a student can have is ''the midnight lamp" Lord Brougham nev- CT 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 Jus tinian nor 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 compel otherwise. Have no alarm clock making its nerve tear lhE IdIhCt hL V IlOCh III tllt unless special reasons demand the for saking of your pillow at that hour. Most of the theories about early rising we inherited from times when people retired at s or 9 o'clock in the even- ing. Such early retirement is impossi- ble 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. It 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 10 and Il o'clock to 8 or half past z, so that the guests at 10 or half past 10 may meet sleep at the right hour in their own dormito- ries. 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 the average of en- durance. The vitality of men and wo- men is depleted, and they go into chronic ailments, if they do not die of or consumption or nervous and the beauty goes out of the cheek beyond all restoration of cos metics. Late retiring is the mother of premature wrinkles. Lack of sleep as- sassinates social life. A reformation is needed, and if the customs of the world could be changed in this mat be rung down at a reasonable hour of the night 20 per cent would be added to the worlds longevity.
 Consolation For Martyrs. ...
 Remark the third: All those ought to be comforted who by overwork In right directions have come to insom- mia. 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 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 disor- ders that are sure to strike the nursery, have been left physical wrecks, and one entire night of slumber is to them B rarity, If not an impossibility. The attorney at law who, through a long trial in poorly ventilated 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 circum- he tries the case all night long and ev- cry night when he would like to be The physician, in time of epidemic, worn out in saving the lives of whole families and failing in his at- tempts to sleep at night between the janglings of his doorbell. The mer- chant who has experienced panics, when the banks went down and Wall street became pandemonium 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 blessing had never touched our planet.
 But I hear and now pronounce high est consolation of, all those who in any department have sacrificed their health to duty. Your sleeplessness is as much a wound as you can find on any battle field and is an honorable wound. We all look with reverence and admiration upon one Who has lost an eye or an arm in the service of his country, and we ought to look with admiration up- on those who through extreme fidelity to their life work have lost capacity for slumber. Remember glorious Al bert Barnes going along the streets of Philadelphia at o'clock in the morning writing all his commentaries before breakfast and keeping on until he was stone blind. Will not the Lord reward such sacrifices? And if, through your fidelity, you have lost capacity to sleep, God, who never slumbers nor sleeps, will look after you.
 It Is high time that we enlarge the scroll of martyrs. We are accustomed to put In that scroll only those who hdNC SOuC uOW uhucl ucduSludu dA or have been wrapped in fires at the stake or torn apart with the machinery of persecution. But the world is full of martyrs who were never touched by any such instruments of torture. Many of our public men in this capital, and indeed in all the capitals, have their life beaten out of them by interrup- tions, annoyances and unreasonable de- mands added to their straightforward duties. Washington sends many of the public men back to their different states worn out and incapacitated. Why Is 1t that in all our land there are but two ex-presidents and two ex-vice presidents? The others were slain by the exhaustions of public life or by hand of assassin. Our public men can not control their time, cannot regulate their hours, cannot escape the implora-