The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1957-12-06
DOWN
TO
EARTH
BY
CARLTON
MORRIS
Ediser. The lndex
casssviile, N. c.
Sleep Flys Away Out the Window
In the Still, Small Hours

HAVE OFTEN wondered if
other people suffer from insomnia
and if so, l then wonder about the
type of cure they use to combat it.
say combat" for / don't believe
There is a cure for it.
INVARIABLY l AWAKE at 2
am. every morning and feel as
though l will never sleep again. l
don't mind the awakening at all
and rather enjoy the loneliness
and solitude of the predawn hours,
but all my life l have been afflict-
ed with a mind that will not stand
still.
THUS, WHEN MY MIND takes
a tack upwind and veers around
to the problems that have been
working on all week, then sleep
flys away out the window and only
the first rays of sunlight in the
morning will have any effect on
me. At sunrise, l could sleep for
ever, but know that / must drag
my weary bones and bleary eyes
up off the bed to begin another
day.
SOME OF MY FRIENDS advise
warm milk and some advise smok-
ing. / have never tried either of
these remedies, for can't stand
milk cold or hot and my pipe is
too strong to smoke on an empty
stomach, and if / am stupid enough
70 turn on a light, then I know I
am done with sleep for the balance
of the night.
THE BOOKS / HAVE written
and the ideas l have advanced
while gazing out my window on
the still, silent night, would almost
reach around the world. And 1
know some of the books and ideas
are very good, but there is a
strange thing about insomnia. 1
can never remember the good ideas
the next day for l am so weary
from loss of sleep that my mind
just will not function.
SINCE l CAN'T eat or drink or
smoke myself to sleep in the mid
die of the night, l have devised
several ways of trying to control
matter with my mind, but so far I |
have had little luck.
FIRST OF ALL try to avoid
thinking of my work since will
soon be devOting all the daylight
hours to it and there is no point
in thinking about people l do not
like or people who have right
fully or wrOngfully mistreated me
on the previous day. For l make
it firm rule in my life to forget
malice each and every day. feel
that life is much, much too short
to hold anger or malice in my
thoughts or heart from one day
to the next.
DESPITE MY BEST efforts to
the contrary, begin to write that
Book. Since l have approached it !!
from many angles on previous
sleepless nights, have finally set
tied on one sure way to begin it i
and only have to review this very
briefly and then / am off to the
races as begin to construct it
step by step. Only trouble is, 1 !
become so absorbed in what l am
thinking, that l want to get up and
begin working on it right that in
slant. Only thing keeps me from
doing this is the fact that my
youngest son is also light sleeper
and would be bound to awaken |
and want to get in on the deal.
AFTER A FEW thousand words
have been written in my mind,
finally manage to put the book !
aside and begin to try to add up
my debts. This is so distasteful !
that / only waste a few seconds
on this and so often switch over
and recall the happy things that
have happened to me along this |
road of life.
THERE ARE so many that II
begin to relax and next thing you
know, / have reached the point
where dreams and reality are
blended and if / am real careful
! can go to sleep and make up for
all the time / have lost. There is |
one big trouble. Just about that !,
time, the sun peeps in my window
through the place where the blind
is broken and it is time to put
aside dreams and face grim reality.
is THERE a doctor of insomnia
in the house?