The Colorado statesman., 1921-08-27
SLEEP IN CHURCH
"Forty Winks" Under Happiest
of Conditions.
Idea Seems to Appeal With Consider
able Force to Writer in Louis
Vile courier-Journal.

Cool. cavernous, well-ventilated,
cushioned churches are fine places In
which to snatch 40 wlnks of sleep,
But for the disposition of mean-na-
.ured persons to speak unkindly or
one who sleeps in church the invita-
ton of Louisville minister to sleep
IN his church during his sermons
might jam the building Sunday morn
ngs, making sleeping in pew as
confortless as sleeping three In
bed.
Those who are not sensitive 10 un-
kind, un-Chrlstian, criticism can en-
Joy sleeping in church and going home
as the pastor says, refreshed and
declaring the sermon and the theology
inc."
Sleep in itself is the supreme
realized experience of the average
work-ridden, worry-bitten, dog-tired
human being, declares writer in the
Louisville Courier-Journal. 1t pro-
vldes 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
adays cold poison procured by
bribery.
The poets, many-voiced. silver
tongued, have smltten the Tyre and
sung the delights, the uses, the magic
of sleep. The philosophers have point
ed out to the weary. to the dlsillu-
stoned, the "poppled ways of sleep"
Sleep paroles the prisoner whose
days are spent in penal servitude and
whose nights are spent in 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
curable Illness and beckOns him to
the ruddy experience Of youth and
health.
The Tilted lover sleeps and knows
the happiness of love requlted.
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. victim of poverty and loneli-
ness. sleeps and is again the bride
whose slppered feet are at the gates
of Elysium.
"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"
near solitude" and 'song," and sun
shine" But it 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 wood. The preacher is long
winded. The squirrel barks, 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
minister who invites the weary to
come to the church and enjoy nap.
for which he promises. generously, to
provide the lullaby.