XIV.
EARLY RISING.
THERE is no practice which has been more extensively eulogized in
all ages than early rising; and this universal impression is an
indication that it is founded on true philosophy. For it is rarely the
case that the common sense of mankind fastens on a practice as really
beneficial, especially one that demands self-denial, without some
substantial reason.
This practice, which may justly be called a domestic virtue, is one
which has a peculiar claim to be styled American and democratic. The
distinctive mark of aristocratic nations is a disregard of the great
mass, and a disproportionate regard for the interests of certain
privileged orders. All the customs and habits of such a nation are, to a
greater or less extent, regulated by this principle. Now the mass of any
nation must always consist of persons who labor at occupations which
demand the light of day. But in aristocratic countries, especially in
England, labor is regarded as the mark of the lower classes, and
indolence is considered as one mark of a gentleman. This impression has
gradually and imperceptibly, to a great extent, regulated their customs,
so that, even in their hours of meals and repose, the higher orders aim
at being different and distinct from those who, by laborious pursuits,
are placed below them. From this circumstance, while the lower orders
labor by day and sleep at night, the rich, the noble, and the honored
sleep by day, and follow their pursuits and pleasures by night.
It will be found that the aristocracy of London breakfast
near midday, dine after dark, visit and go to Parliament between ten and
twelve at night, and retire to sleep toward morning. In consequence of
this, the subordinate classes who aim at gentility gradually fall into
the same practice. The influence of this custom extends across the
ocean, and here, in this democratic land, we find many who measure their
grade of gentility by the late hour at which they arrive at a party. And
this aristocratic folly is growing upon us, so that, throughout the
nation, the hours for visiting and retiring are constantly becoming
later, while the hours for rising correspond in lateness.
The question, then, is one which appeals to American women, as a
matter of patriotism and as having a bearing on those great principles
of democracy which we conceive to be equally the principles of
Christianity. Shall we form our customs on the assumption that labor is
degrading and indolence genteel? Shall we assume, by our practice, that
the interests of the great mass are to be sacrificed for the pleasures
and honors of a privileged few? Shall we ape the customs of aristocratic
lands, in those very practices which result from principles and
institutions that we condemn? Shall we not rather take the place to
which we are entitled, as the leaders, rather than the followers, in the
customs of society, turn back the tide of aristocratic inroads, and
carry through the whole, not only of civil and political but of social
and domestic life, the true principles of democratic freedom and
equality? The following considerations may serve to strengthen an
affirmative decision.
The first relates to the health of a family. It is a universal law
of physiology, that all living things flourish best in the light.
Vegetables, in a dark cellar, grow pale and spindling. Children brought
up in mines are always wan and stunted, while men become pale and
cadaverous who live under ground. This indicates the folly of losing the
genial influence which the light of day produces on all animated
creation.
Sir James Wylie, of the Russian imperial service, states that in the
soldiers' barracks, three times as many were taken sick on the shaded
side as on the sunny side; though both sides communicated, and
discipline, diet, and treatment were the same. The eminent French
surgeon, Dupuytren, cured a lady whose complicated diseases baffled for
years his own and all other medical skill, by taking her from a dark
room to an abundance of daylight.
Florence Nightingale writes: "Second only to fresh air in importance
for the sick is light. Not only
daylight but direct sunlight is necessary to speedy recovery, except in
a small number of cases. Instances, almost endless, could be given
where, in dark wards, or wards with only northern exposure, or wards
with borrowed light, even when properly ventilated, the sick could not
be, by any means, made speedily to recover."
In the prevalence of cholera, it was invariably the case that deaths
were more numerous in shaded streets or in houses having only northern
exposures than in those having sunlight. Several physicians have stated
to the writer that, in sunny exposures, women after childbirth gained
strength much faster than those excluded from sunlight. In the writer's
experience, great nervous debility has been always immediately lessened
by sitting in the sun, and still more by lying on the earth and in open
air, a blanket beneath, and head and eyes protected, under the direct
rays of the sun.
Some facts in physiology and natural philosophy have a bearing on
this subject. It seems to be settled that the red color of blood is
owing to iron contained in the red blood-cells, while it is established
as a fact that the sun's rays are metallic, having "vapor of iron" as
one element. It is also true that want of light causes a diminution of
the red and an increase of the imperfect white blood-cells, and that
this sometimes results in a disease called
leucoemia, while all who live in
the dark have pale and waxy skins, and flabby, weak muscles. Thus it
would seem that it is the sun that
imparts the iron and color to the blood. These things being so, the
customs of society that bring sleeping hours into daylight, and working
and study hours into the night, are direct violations of the laws of
health. The laws of health are the laws of God, and "sin is the
transgression of law."
To this we must add the great neglect of economy as well as health
in substituting unhealthful gaslight, poisonous, anthracite warmth, for
the life-giving light and warmth of the sun. Millions and millions would
be saved to this nation in fuel and light, as well as in health, by
returning to the good old ways of our forefathers, to rise with the sun,
and retire to rest "when the bell rings for nine o'clock."
The observations of medical men, whose inquiries have been directed
to this point, have decided that from six to eight hours is the amount
of sleep demanded by persons in health. Some constitutions require as
much as eight, and others no more than six hours of repose. But eight
hours is the maximum for all persons in ordinary health, with ordinary
occupations. In cases of extra physical exertions, or the debility of
disease, or a decayed constitution, more than this is required. Let
eight hours, then, be regarded as the ordinary period required for sleep
by an industrious people like the Americans.
It thus appears that the laws of our political condition, the laws
of the natural world, and the constitution of our bodies, alike demand
that we rise with the light of day to prosecute our employments, and
that we retire in time for the requisite amount of sleep.
In regard to the effects of protracting the time spent in repose,
many extensive and satisfactory investigations have been made. It has
been shown that, during sleep, the body perspires most freely, while yet
neither food nor exercise are ministering to its wants. Of course, if we
continue our slumbers beyond the time required to restore the body to
its usual vigor, there is an unperceived undermining of the
constitution, by this protracted and debilitating exhalation. This
process, in a course of years, renders the body delicate and less able
to withstand disease, and in the result shortens life. Sir John
Sinclair, who has written a large work on the Causes of Longevity,
states, as one result of his extensive investigations, that he has never
yet heard or read of a single case of great longevity where the
individual was not an early riser. He says that he has found cases in
which the individual has violated some one of all the other laws of
health, and yet lived to great age; but never a single instance in which
any constitution has withstood that undermining consequent on
protracting the hours of repose beyond the demands of the system.
Another reason for early rising is, that it is indispensable to a
systematic and well-regulated family. At whatever hour the parents
retire, children and domestics, wearied by play or labor, must retire
early. Children usually awake with the dawn of light, and commence their
play, while domestics usually prefer the freshness of morning for their
labors. If, then, the parents rise at a late hour, they either induce a
habit of protracting sleep in their children and domestics, or else the
family are up, and at their pursuits, while their supervisors are in
bed.
Any woman who asserts that her children and domestics, in the first
hours of day, when their spirits are freshest, will be as well regulated
without her presence as with it, confesses that which surely is little
for her credit. It is believed that any candid woman, whatever may be
her excuse for late rising, will concede that if she could rise early it
would be for the advantage of her family. A late breakfast puts back the
work, through the whole day, for every member of a family; and if the
parents thus occasion the loss of an hour or two to each individual who,
but for their delay in the morning, would be usefully employed, they
alone are responsible for all this waste of time.
But the practice of early rising has a relation to the general
interests of the social community, as well as to that of each distinct
family. All that great portion of the community who are employed in
business and labor find it needful to rise early; and all their hours of
meals, and their appointments for business or pleasure, must be
accommodated to these arrangements. Now, if a small portion of the
community establish very different hours, it makes a kind of jostling in
all the concerns and interests of society. The various appointments for
the public, such as meetings, schools, and business hours, must be
accommodated to the mass, and not to individuals. The few, then, who
establish domestic habits at variance with the majority, are either
constantly interrupted in their own arrangements, or else are
interfering with the rights and interests of others. This is exemplified
in the case of schools. In families where late rising is practiced,
either hurry, irregularity, and neglect are engendered in the family, or
else the interests of the school, and thus of the community, are
sacrificed. In this, and many other matters, it can be shown that the
well-being of the bulk of the people is, to a greater or less extent,
impaired by this self-indulgent practice. Let any teacher select the
unpunctual scholars--a class who most seriously interfere with the
interests of the school--and let men of business select those who cause
them most waste of time and vexation, by unpunctuality; and it will be
found that they are generally among the late risers, and rarely among
those who rise early. Thus, late rising not only injures the person and
family which indulge in it, but interferes with the rights and
convenience of the community; while early rising imparts corresponding
benefits of health, promptitude, vigor of action, economy of time, and
general effectiveness both to the individuals who practice it and to the
families and community of which they are a part.
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