The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1921-02-04
BED. POPULAR
Most People Have an Aversion to
Seeking It.
Not That They Have Any Objection
to Slumber In Itself. but That
They Reject the Abject Sur.
render Involved.

tM MNk fl" -t# sN 4 &' G
Ono Of the characters in .'The Moon
and %Sixpcnce" remarked that he had
faithfully lived up TO the old precept
about doing every day two things
you heartily dislike: for. said he. every
iay he had got up and he had gone
10 bed.
II is a sad thing that as soon as the
hands Of the clock have turned ten the
shadow of going to bed begins to creep
over the evening. We have never
heard bedSoing spoken Of with any
enthusiasm. One after another we
have seen a gathering dispense. each
person saying with an air of solemn
resignation) "Weil.'I guess I'll go to
bed" But there was, no hilarity
about 1t. 1t is really rather touching
how they cling to the departing skirts
OF the day that Is vanishing under the
spinning shadow Of night.
This is odd. we repeat. for sleep in
highly popular among human beings.
The reluctance to go to- ones couch Is
not at all a reluctance to slumber. for
almost all Of us will dOze happily In
an armchair or N a sofa. or even fes-
TONED on the flopr with u couple Of
cushions. But the actual and formal
yielding to sheets and blankets is to
he postponed to the last possible mo-
ment.
The devil Of drowsiness is most pO-
tent, we find, about 10: 30 p. m. At
this period the human carcass seems
10 consider that ii has finished it's
cycle, which began with So much c"ur-
age about Is hours before. Ii he
gins IL slack and the mind halts on
q dead center every now and then. re-
fOSing to complete the revolutions.
Now. there are those who hold that
this is certainly the seemly and APP
pointed time to GO to bed. and they
Il" $" as a matter Of routine.
These. are. commonly. the happier
creatures. for they take the tide "f
sleep nj the food and are borne calmly
and with gracious ~gentlenesS out I"
great waters Ut nothingness. They
push OF from@the wharf On a tranquil
current. and nothing more is I" be
seen or heard OF these voyagers until
they reappeart at the breakfast table.
digging Justify into the grapefruit.
These people are happy. aye. in a
british and %seNentary fashion. but they
miss the admirable adventures of
those more ,cnihittered wrestlers who
will nc give III without a struggle.
These latter suffer severe pangs he
tween 10 40 ami about 1913. while
they grappIe with their failing facnl-
fies and seek to r%e-establish the will
on IFS %totterins throne.
This requires courage. stout valor
%Wnbending. Oncp You yield. he It ever
so little to the ftempter. YOU are lost.
And here our poor hard's clay plays
MS false. undermining the intellect
with many a trick and vile. II will
sit down for a seasan In that com
Portable CHAIR" the creature says To
himself, and read mis- sprightly
novel. That win 'case my mind and
put me in hnmor for A continuance
Of lively thinking"
And the Enc of that man is a steady
buzz from the bottom of the
chair. where lie has collapsed. an un-
slightly object and a disgrace to hui
manity. This also means a big hill
from the electric light company At
the end Of the month. In many such
ways will his corpus betray him. lead
ing him by plausible self-deceptions
into a pitfall of sleep. whence he is
aroused about three a. M when the
planet turns over on the other. side.