The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-01-08

tiaian nor 4 ERd Brosgham. Lst not
~ absurd apetksesis' u early risina h.
duce. you to the abbrsviAtion Of SLEEP.
! Get up when you are slept cut. unless
circumstances compel otherwise. Have
10 alarm clock making its nerve tearing
racket at O'Clock in the morning, unless
special reasons demand the forsaking Of
your pillow at that hour. Most of the
theories about early rising we inherited
from times when people retired at 8 or 0
O'Clock in the evening. Such early re-
tirement Ia impossible In our own times
for those who are taking part in the
great activities Of life. There 10 no vir-
tue In the mere act Of early rising. It
all depends upon what you do after you
get up. II would be better for the world
II some people never Weakened at all.
But most Americans do not get sleep
enough. The sin of late retiring is one
most widespread and ruinous. What 10
much needed Is that In all our cities those
who are leaders In social life turn back
tho hour of drawing room assemblags
from 10 and II o'clock to 8 or half past
Z. 10 that the guests at 10 or half past 10
may meet sleep at the right hour in their
0Wu UOEuiC0IiGus74 i WI VI buICV 9OCtAA
heroines could do that In all the towns
= and cities. Thousands Of men and won,-
en- are slain each year by late hours.
Five years Is more than the average of
endurance. The vitality Of men and wo-
men Is depleted, and they 90 into chronic
ailments, II they do not die Of dyspepsia
or consumption or nervous prostration,
and the beauty goes out Of the cheek be-
yond all restoration Of cosmetics. Late
retiring Is the mother Of premature
wrinkles. Lack Of sleep assassinates So
cial life. A reformation Ii needed, and
II the customs Of the world could be
changed in this matter and the curtains
of social life could be rung down at .
would be added to the worlds longevity.
An Honorable Wound.
Remark the third: All those ought to
be comforted who by overwork 10 right
directions have come to insomnia. In all
occupations and professions there are
times when q special draft Is made upon
the, nervous energy. There are thou.
sands Of men and women who cannot
sleep because they were injured BY over
work In some time Of domestic or poltdc-
al 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 physic-
I'll wrecks. and one entire night Of slum-
Der Is to them a rarity, IL not an imp0s-
sibility. The attorney at law who
through long trial in poorly ventilated
courtroom has stood for weeks battling
for the rights Of widows and orphans or
for the life of client in whose innocence
he is confident, though all the circum-
stances are unfavorable. In his room he
tries the case all night long, and every
night, when he would like to be slumber-
ing. The physician, in time of epidemics,
worn out in saving the lives of whole
families and failing in his attempts to
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 pande-
monium, and there was possibility that
the next day he would be penniless-that
night with no more possibility of gaining
sleep than il such blessing had never
touched our planet. Ministers Of the gos-
pei, in time Of great revival, all their pow
ers of endurance drawn upon day by day
and week by week and month by month
-sermonic preparation. ne;ghborhood
visitation, heartbreaking obsequies, SYM
pathetic help for the anxious, the despair
ing and the dying. 1t is wonder that
ministers of the gospel have any nerves
left and that the angel of sleep does not
quit their presence forever.
But / hear and now pronounce highest
consolation for all those who in any de-
partment have sacrificed their health to
duty. Your sleeplessness is as much a
wound as you can find on any battlefield
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 upon those who,
through extreme fidelity to their life
work, have lost capacity for slumber.
Remember glorious Albert Barnes going
along the streets of Philadelphia at 4
o'clock in the morning for many years to
his church study. writing all his common
taries before breakfast and keeping on
until he was stone blind. Will not the
Lord reward such sacrifices? And II,
through your fidelity, you have lost. ca
pacity to sleep, God, who never slumbers
or sleeps, will look after you. When you
hear the clock strike II and and 2 and
3 and without your going into slumber,
let it remind you that you have not been
a sluggard or do nothing. You are suf-
fering in q good cause. Paul got sore
eyes in the Lords service and had many
a scar, but, SO far from complaining
about it, he eXults in those scars, saying
in the o r. inspired letter we know that
he wrote with his own hand, for the 9TH
er letters were dictated to amanuenses-
in that letter to the Galatians, 81 bear in
my body the marks Of the Lord Jesus"
Slain by Public Life.
1t is high time that We enlarge the
scroll Of martyrs. We are accustomed to
put in that scroll only those who have
gone down under headsman's ak, or have
been wrapped In fires at the stake, or
torn apart with the machinery or perse-
cution. But the world is full of martyrs
who were never touched by any such in
struments of torture. Many Of our public
men In this capital--and, indeed, in all
the capitals-hnve their life beaten out Of
them by Interruptions, annoyances and
unreasonable demands added to their
straightforward duties. Washington sends
many of the public men back to their
different states worn out and incapacl-
tated. Why is it 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-
ton of constituents. All who go down to
invalidsm through the service Of God
or their country are martyrs.
Remark the fourth: Insomnia Is no
sign of divine displeasure. Martin Luther
had distressing insomnia and wrote,
"When wake up in the night, the devil
Immediately comes and disputes with me
and gives me strange thoughts. until at
last l grow enraged beyond endurance
and give him i'll words" That conse-
Grated champion of everything good, DR..
Stephen Fl. Tying, ST., in his autobiog-
raphy says that the only encouragement
he had to think he would sleep at night
was the fact that he had not slept the
night before. One of the greatest Eng
lish clergymen had gas jet on either
side of his bed, SO that he might read
pi1hto ryhon ha corld mt slpen Horace