Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-03-30
RISING HOUR PLEASANT
Proper Amount Of Sleep Essential and
Neglect Means Wenrincss.

The old Athenans and the sturdy ROM
ans OF the republic left their beds at day
break. 1t has been remarked that they
needed no candles. and it has been In
ferred that a day living race is superior
to a night living race. Those who work
when it Is light and sleep when It is dark
do seem to follow the natural order Of
things. In Rome when Nero and Com
modus and Heliogabalus took to giving
midnight banquets the decline of the
worlds mistress was we'll under way
Old Cato, we may he sure, always went to
bed with the roosters and needed no
rooster to rouse him at dawn.
AS civilization has advanced there has
been constantly increasing tendency
to turn night into day. There is Of
course, more to live for now than there
was when Alcihiades played his pranks
in snoring Athens Day is not enough.
part OF the night, too.
Men and women who really work cam
not afford to squander too much of the
night. The actual work performed by
an individual may usually be measured
by the hours he keeps. The men and
women who consider midnight as merely
tiie VI tHe eNcllliS are Hpl lIlc
men and women of useful productveness
They belong to stratum which they
themselves complacently rank as above
the social plane of the worker. There
are exceptions, of course. and notable
among these is the necessary night work.
err; for the complexities OF civilization
demand that some few must work while
the others either sleep or should be sleep
Ing
The grasping at the night hours is
doubtless an unconscious endeavor to
lengthen the hours of living. Life is
short enough, at best. Life to-day Of
fers so much that each individual strives
for all he can possibly get. And in the
striving he overreaches himself. For
whatever he steals from the night he
pays to the day.
Sleep is Inconsistencies, and uncon-
seriousness is not living But II Is es-
sential to living. When the night hours
are filched for JOY the hours of the day
light must be given sleep or the filchcr
who will not repay must suffer the penal
~ OF WEAKNESS OF mind and body. Such
WEAKNESS in itself foils the mortals who
are trying to live too much each day, for
It lessons the number Of their days and
the real spans Of their lives are made
shorter instead Of longer
Moreover. they are missing the best
part of their lives, The morning Is the
best work time. 1t is the time of achieve
ment. Brain and muscles should be re-
freshed by honest sleep. There should
be an enthusiasm and zeal for labor. AT.
ternoon brings n dulling of this proper
ambition. and evening should bring n de-
mand for rest. The man who does not
give the night to sleep cannot give the
morning to usefulness. He must either
sleep through the active hours or he must
work at disadvantage because he has
defied nature and has sought to work
without sleep.
Getting up in the morning should be
the pleasantest of daily duties There
should always be the beck onine mystery
of possible accomplishment the wonder
OF what a full. healthy. sunlit period OF
striving may have In store There should
be neither regret at awakening nor dread
of immediate WEAKNESS. The end of
slumber should be the beginning of vigor
and pleasure; 1t should be the vernal low
of the diurna CYCLE as spring. COMING
after Winters rest and sleep, is the su.
preme pleasure of the annual cvcle.-
Cleveland Plain Dealer.