EARLY RISING.

Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 157, 31 December 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

EARLY RISING.

"Now blessings light on him that first irfvented sleep !| it covers a man all over, thoughts and all, like a cloak ; it is meat for the hungry, ' drink for the thirsty, heat for the cold, aisd cold for the hot." — Don Quixote. i [ "God bless th^ man who first invented sleep!" I So Sancho Panza said, and so say I j Ana bless him,! also, that he didn't keep His great! discovery to himself, nor try J To make it — as the lucky fellow might— A close monopoly by patent-right i Yes — bless the man who first invented sleep, ' (I really can't avoid the iteration ; ) But blast the man with curses loud and deep, Whate'er the rascal's name, or age, or station, Who first invented, and went round ad- • vising, ' ' That artificial cut-off— Early Rising ! "Rise with the lark, and with the lark to bed," Observes' some solemn, sentimental owl; Maxims like these are very cheaply said ; V But, ere you make yourself a fool o $ fowl, Pray, just enquire about his rise and ft And whether larks have any beds at all J r The time for honest folks to be abed Is in the morning, if I reason right ; . And he who can not keep his precious head , Upon his pillow till it's fairly light, And so enjoy his morning forty winks, Is up to knavery, or else — he drinks I Thomson, who sung about the "Seasons," said It was a glorious thing to rise in season ; But then he said it — lying — in his bed, At 10 a.m. — the very reason He wrote so charmingly. The simple fact is, His preaching wasn't sanctioned by his practice. 'Tis doubtless well to be sometimes awaks — Att akd to duty, and awake to truth — .» But when, alas! a nice review we take Of our best di>eds and days, we find, in aooth, The hour* that leave the slightest cause to weep /re those we passed in childhood o. .asleep! 'Tis beautiful to leave the world awhile * For the soft visions of the gentlt*' night : And frey, at last, from mortal care o * guile, * To live as only in the angels' sight, . -•■ In sleep-'s sweet realm so cozily snut in, '■ Where, at the worst, we only dream o' sin ! ■ So let us sleep and give the Maker praise ' I like the lad who, when his fathe ,' thought : > To clip his morning nap by hackneye fc phrase Of vagrant worm by early songste caught, Cried, 'Served him right! 'tis not at t ', surprising ; The worm was punished, sir, for ear ' rising 1" John G. Saxe/