Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-27
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRAcEWELL.

Waking is a literal coming back to
] earth.
To some people 1t is the most diff
cult task of the day.
These include not only schoolboys, no
torious for their inability to wake up,
but also hundreds of their elders.
F. Some temperaments seem to cling to
something not to be let 60 lightly
something worth hanging on to until
the last second.
Almost every sleeper has experienced
this strange reluctance, although it
may not be a habit with him, upon
some cold, gray morning, when bed
seemed the best place in the world.
Physically speaking, eyes will not
open. A bemuddled vision places tiny
springs upon the eyelids which per-
sistently pull them shut.
The fluids Of the eyes, as If not yet
used to light, although they have been
transmitting light rays into objects and
colorS for lifetime, shrink from the
feeble CLEAN of the street lights filtering
through windows.
There Is in addition a psychical
something, somehow related to the soul
state, which likewise INDUCES in a pure
shrinking process.
This is not shrinking exactly, but a
withdrawal, as if the whole being, far
too sensitive for a world of light and
motion, attempts to go back to dark
ness and inertia and achieves sur
priSing success.
X 4 X
The process of waking is almost the
opposite of going to sleep, yet amaz-
ingly like it in essence. In the one the
so-called nerve ganglia separate; evil
n In ~
Awakening, then, is a putting together
Of the physical, mental and psychic
forces for the day before one. Most of
this task is done unconSciously, aided
by bit of will power.
Waking in a pure state would be an
immediate and, above all, happy grasp
ing of the light by all the various
forces of the being. One seldom ex-
periences it or sees it in full operation.
Only those who can honestly obey
the injunction to spring out of bed
know such automatic Weakening. There
is with them no sleepy period no miser-
able longing to sleep all day. but in
stead they desire to get up at once.
These fortunate beings are almost
unknown, let it be said in all frankness,
although often written about, especially
in what is somewhat ambiguously de-
scribed as physical culture literature"
Many claim to indulge in such rapid
wakings, but one may suspect they are
a great deal like those who say they
enjoy hopping into a tub of cold water
in Winter or prefer the dark meat of
turkey to the white.
Nothing can make us believe one of
the trio. He who claims to wake up
with bang" is in our estimation in a
class with the lover of a cold tub and
Of dark meat of turkey.
A cold shower, yes; but a cold tub
never! Who, offered breast of turkey,
would eat leg, except to show Off Sim
ilarly, he who claims to need no pre-
liminary period for waking in the morn
ing Is mistaken.
Perhaps he does not know his own
mind in the matter. He Is in a class
maybe with the small boy who has the
covers dragged of him at 2 am. and
who prefers to get up to shivering with
his big toes stuck straight out into the
atmosphere.
The sweetest sleep of all, If it can
be called sleep, Is the 5, 10 or is minute
periods, or maybe a full half hour, just
after one wakes up for the first time
One can scarcely say he is back to
earth yet. TenuouS fibers pull him
back to dreamland Invisible hands
beckon, invisible rays, some of light,
others Of color, make their silent APP
peals.
The hideous clamor Of the alarm
clock, breaking in on this unhealthy,
bids the dozer return to the solid earth