The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-01-09
st have an exposition of sleep come
upon me-"
Midsummer Nights Dream.
ITO sleep, perchance to dream"
Hamlet.


A LAND WHERE POPPIES BLOOM.
Far out in a soundless sea, whose bill
lows rise and fall with drowsy rhythm
ic motion, and where zephyrs, sweeping
seward, seem charged with the exhala-
tons of countless fields of nodding pop
pies, there lies a. mysterious Island 1t
is a strange land Of bewildering and fam
tastic confusion. Through its shadows
unaccountable apparitions and unspeak-
able spectres glide with noiseless motion
in forms that we'll nigh freeze the blood.
Once when I was there I saw headless
men and women living. moving and doing
deeds that filled my soul with repellent
terror and struck me dumb. though long
I tried to cry aloud. I have also seen
there those who had been long dead,
now clothed In their ve-shrouds,
stealthily stealing away into thick gray
shadows Once I was transf1xed with
horror for one long dead placed his hand
upon my brow. 1t was hand of Ice
and each finger was a curved icicle en-
comprising my forehead. Yielding to the
curious conditions of this myterious land,
I. myself. have committed deeds that
must have paled the cheek Of night. Once
I actually plunged q sharp instrument
into the abdomen of young man, VINO
presently fell dead at my feet
On this island, at times, there are ter
rible commissions In nature followed py
dire disc sters. Temptests sweep ana roar
with all the fury Of thousand gales
compacted into one.
R,,t n "a a land of contradictions. For
7 have seen there forms of radiant beau-
tv. scenes of Infinite charm, enhancing
combinations of colors that no artist
skill could equal and which can be found
elsewhere only at dawn of day, wnen
mornings splendor drenches hoating
clouds with its infinite wealth OF color.
Matchless music have I heard in that
strange land. Songs that heard in my
childhood and which I supposed were no
longer sung since SILENCE sealed her
l,ns" have heard there. and tears
Allied my eyes and nameless pathetic
emotion stirred within my soul.
For that land Of mystery we all set
.ai, soon or late, and all In due time
tread its shadowy shores' those shores
where peoples bloom
The man of toll commits himself to the
drowsy voyage over that silent sea In a
craft whose every oarlock Is munled as
with velvet, and at last the land OF Won
drous palms and fragrant breezes!
The little child. tired OF play embarks
,or the strange land, and in the dear old
ship called Mothers Arms" sails away
and away. Noah's ark. dolls, tops and
nlavbouse are all left behind, as he Is
horne on by gentle breezes, laden with
= song that seraphs might covet to sing
a mothers lullaby to her child.
The name of that mystic land Is Sleep
But where Is it? What is 1T? Only rev
minutes ago the little one, whose merry
prattle Is the music of your home, was all
activity: but she has said good night
and now her soft blue eyes are shut In,
and she il still as death. She IL asleep;
and yet she is awake. For, as you look
upon her calm face, upon which God has
stamped the beauty of innocence, her
dimpies deepen, her mouth spreads and
she smiles as If she had gone to the para
disc of all the dolls Of all the ages. Truth
to tell, only one part of the child Is
asleep.
Sleep in itself cannot be comprehended.
It Is like substance. The chemist tells
us that we cannot understand what sub
stance is. All that we can do is to ap-
prehend some Of its phenomena. The re-
mark may be applied to sleep. Yet science
has given us many interesting facts and
deductions which invest the subject with
q subtle charm as we study 1t.
FACTS. PSYCHOLOGICAL.
The physiological cause of sleep 10 UNI
certain, but most men who have given
deep attention to the subject hold that
sleep IL q result of q diminution of blood
flow to the brain, accompanied by sur
render of the will to the benumbing in
nuences that finally soothe the sensorium
Into insensibility. II there be an unusual
quantity of blood drawn from the brain
BY some part of the body sleep 10 inde-
pendent Of the will and often dominates
It. You come into hot room out Of the
cold. As you sit before the fire your
body becomes warm; much Of the blood
that was driven from your extremities to
me brain by the cold now bsgns more
gsussously TO supply the entire be1y. ~