EARLY RISING



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 ofthe
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, readers 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.