The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1921-08-26
SLEEP IN CHURCH
"Forty Winks" Under Happiest
Of Conditions.
>ldea Seems to Appeal With Consider.
able Force to Writer in Louie
Vile Courier-Journai.

Cool, c%avernous, well-ventilated,
cushioned churches are fine places in
which to snatch 40 winks of sleep.
But for the disposition Of
tured persons to speak unkindly Of
one who sleeps In church the invita-
ton Of a Louisville minister to sleep
In his church during his
might jam the building Sunday morn
lngs, making sleeping In q pew as
comfortless as sleeping three in q
bed.
Those who are not sensitive to IN
kind, un-Christian, criticism can en-
Joy sleeping in church and going home.
as the pastor says, refreshed and
declaring the sermon and the theology
fine"
Sleep in itself is the supreme
realized experience Of the average
work-ridden. worry-bitten, dog-tired
human being, declares a writer In the
Louisville Courier-Journal. 1t pro,
v!des all Of the refreshment Of the
bath without the labor Of Tubing and
rubbing. Sleep is more reconstruc-
tive than a drink, and it is an anti
toxin, whereas the drink may be. now
adayA cold poison procured by
bribery.
The poets, m~any-voiced, silver
tongued, have smitten the Tyre and
sung the delights, the uses. the magic
Of sleep. The philosophers have point
ed out to the weary, to the disillu-
stoned, the popped ways Of sleep"
Sleep paroles the prisoner whose
days are spent in penal servitude and
whose nights are spent in a cell, max
ing him as free and as light-footed as
Ariel.
Sleep suspends the life sentence Of
the man who is In the clutches of in
durable illness and beckOns him to
the rudy experience Of youth and
health.
The Tilted lover sleeps and knows
the happiness Of love requited.
The bankrupt sleeps and expert
ences the dignity and the power that
wealth showers with barbaric hand
upon the merchant princes Of the gor-
geous west, along with pearl and
gold.
The widow, gray, bent, old, child.
less, a victim Of poverty and loneli-
ness, sleeps and is again the bride
whose slippered feet are at the gates
Of Elysiuln.
"Sleep" is found, In any book of ia
milar quotations. between ISLANDER
and Slavery" from both of which 1t
provides respite, and next to Smiles
a solitude" and song" and "sun-
shine" But 1t is found nowhere In
happier circumstances than in church,
somewhere between the announce
ment Of the text and the pronounce.
ment Of the benediction, for sleeps
caress upon the eyelids Of the weary
falls more softly and sweetly when 1t
comes like Diana's kiss, unasked, un-
sought" than when 1t responds to such
advances as getting into night-clothes
and into bed.
Sleep in church Is at Its best when
the church Is made of logs and stands
In a wood. The preacher Is long.
winded. The squirrel banks. the blue
jay chides. the leaves rustic outside
the windows. As the parson thunders
out damnation in mid-discourse the
meat of the argument goes to your
wakeful neighbor while you "eat in
dreams the custard." Even In town,
with the jangling noises Of the streets
invading the edifice, there are rare
sweetness and solace In the nature of
a minister who invites the weary to
come to the church and enjoy a nap,
for which he promises, generously, to
provide the lullaby.