SLEEP.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 193, 4 September 1900, Page 4

SLEEP.

Boucicault was so anxious to get a» inuch out of life as possiblo that during the last four or five years of his career ho denied himself proper sleep, going to bed at two and rising at six. The time passed in slumber he considered wasted. More rest than this he did not seem to require. The other day we heard of a man who never sleeps, as we understand the word. He is the caretaker of a large building to which people resort at all hours of the twenty-lour. This Cerberus volunteered for a double salary to do the watching day and night, and so he does, sitting in a chair and opening a gate every lime the bell rings. There is never a longer interval than fifteen minutes, and yet he contrives to snatch iuflicient sleep to serve him. His health is fiood and his happiness apparently complete. He looks upon himself as fortunate in having this exacting place, which most other people would not accept at any price. The amount of sleep is to a considerable degree a matter of temperament. Napoleon, nccording to the life of Josephine, recently nublished, was a prodigious sleeper, taking nine hours when he could get it. His active brain required this amount of rest. On the other hand, Emile Lettre, the author of the dictionary, needed only four hours. He went to bed at four a.m. and got up at eight. £ll 'he rest of the time, except a few minutes at his meals, he spent at his desk. He lived to eighty-five, and enjoyed perfect health. ; j.,, VON BOYLE'S LOST DOG. A DUTCHMAN'S STORV. His name vas " Bismarck," mit only vone eye, on accoundt of a old placlc cat, vot pelongs lo a servant Irish gals mit red-haired hair. Also, he has only dree legs, on accoundt of a mocolotiff engine mitout any bull kclchcrs. He vas a dog " Bismarck" vas. He vas palclt headed all • ofer himself, in gonsequence of red-hot water, on accoundt of fighting mit a old maid's cat On vone end of himself was skituated his head, unci his tail it vas py de oder endt. He only carries vonehalf of his tail mit him, on accoundt of a circular saw mill. H< looks a good deal more older as he i: already, but he ain't quite so oldt as dal until next Christmas. De vay vot you cat know him is, if you sills him " Shack" h< rent say nolings; but he makes answer tt de name "Bismarck" by saying " Pow vow-vow," und, in the meantime, vagging half of his tail. Dot oder half vas cut off so he can't, of course, shake it. Also, 1 you trf.w some stones on top of him he vi run like de tueful. Dot de vay you can tok my dog. He looks like a cross pejween i ln.llfoundland und a cat mit nine tails, bu he ain't. I haf peen eferywheres lookinj for dot dog. . ■ ,i.' •' Anoder way vot you could told if it va " Bismarck" is dot he vas almost a dwin He vould be half of a pair of dwins do time, only derc vas dree of them—a bair o dwins and a half. I peliefe dey calls dot i driplets. Also, he got scars on de top o his side where he scratched himself mit Thomas cat; but dot Thomas cat ,nefe recovered himself. You can also tell" Bismarck" onaccound of his wonderful inshlinct. He can ont inshtinct any deg vot yer nefer saw in m life. For inshtinct, if you pat him on d top of his head mit your hand he know right away dot you like him ; but if you pa him on de head mil a pavement stones, o de shtick of a proom, den he vill suspec right off dot you care not much apout hiir I tink, after all, dot's maype debest vay vc you,can tell him—by his inshtinct. Efery pody says he vas de most inshtinktenes

tog dot nefcr vas. . ,«.&$[ \^K»' l '4i^'i l '' W<fr tfsf —■ ■'<mM^---rr\ PAT AND THE BEES. ' '• :$ In Charips Lever's delightful " O'Donog- j hue" there occurs a remarkably rich passage illustrating the relations subsisting between an improving English landlord and an untutored tenant. ■; Ihe scene is on the lawn of the O'l/onoghuc's casll; in Kerry. The tenants have assembled to meet the worthy English baronet who has purchased the property, and who with his agent standing in the parlour-window, watches eagerly for some, result of the many " improvements" which at great cost he has endeavoured to introduce to the wild and untutored peasants of the district. The agent presents the tenants to the worthy innovator who enquires into the condition of the grumbling and dissatisfied recipients of his favours. Al length, on a tenant presenting himself, whom the agent failed to recognise, the baronet turns to the figure before him, which, with face and head swollen out of all proportion, and showing distorted features and fiery eyes through the folds of a cotton handkerchief, awaits his address in. sullen silence. " Who are you my good man ? What has happened to you ?" " Faix, an' it's well ye may ax; me own mother wouldn't know mo this blessed morning! 'Tis all your own doin' entoirely." "My doing I" replies the astonished baronet. " What can I have to do with the state you are in my good man ?" " Yes, it is your doin'," answers the enraged proprietor of the swollen head; " 'Tis all your doin', and well ye may be proud of it. 'Twas thim blessed bees gev me. We brought the divels into the house last night, an' where did we put them but in the pig's corner. Well, after Katty, an' the childer, an' meself was a while in bed, the pig goes rootin' about the house, and he wasn't aisy till he hooked his nose into the hive, and spilt the bees out about the flure; and thin whin t got out of bid to let out the pig that was a-roaring through the house, the bees sittled down on me, an' began stingin' me an' I jumped into bid again wid the whole of thim after me and Katty and the childer; and thin, what wid the bees a-buzzin' an' a-stingin' us under the clothes out we all jumped agin' an' such a night was never spent in Ireland as we spirit last nij;ht. What w:d Katty and the childer a-roarin' an' a-ballin' an' the pig i.\ -in' up and down like mad, an' Katty wid tht besom, an' myself wid the fryin'-pan :latio)in' the bees agin the wall till morning', an' thin the sight we wor in the mornin'— bej;or it's ashamed oi yerself ye oueht to ue I"