IF one can go to bed and sleep, he has no cause to wail or weep, however large the load of care that he is called upon to bear. A good night's sleep should nerve the soul to put affliction in the hole. The man who rises from his bed, refreshed by sleep from heels to head, and yet confesses dotard fear of griefs and worries lurking near, is much too cheap to have around; he's dear at half a cent a pound. But if a fellow cannot snooze, when he takes off his shirt and shoes, and soaks his false teeth in a pail, and hangs his whiskers on a nail, the fight's unequal from the first, and he is bound to draw the worst. He cannot fight with steady lance, he cannot look with dauntless glance upon the troubles of the day; he wants to shriek and run away. One fellow wins in all he tries, and captures every offered prize, because when he retires to bed, he sleeps eight hours, like some one dead. Another fails and draws a blank, and owes some money at the bank, because at night he seldom knows a solid hour of real repose. |