instances, be true; but in
general, facts show the reverse. The motions of the early riser will be
more lively and vigorous all day. He may, indeed, become dull late in
the evening, but he ought to be so.

Sir Matthew Hale said that after spending a Sunday well, the rest of
the week was usually prosperous. This is doubtless to be accounted
for--in part at least--on the above principle.

2. In the warm season, the morning is the most agreeable time for
labor. Many farmers and mechanics in the country perform a good half
day's work before the people of the city scarcely know that the sun
shines.[2]

3. To lie snoring late in the morning, assimilates us to the most
beastly of animals. Burgh, an ingenious English writer, justly
observes; 'There is no time spent more stupidly than that which some
luxurious people pass in a morning between sleeping and waking, after
nature has been fully gratified. He who is awake may be doing
something: he who is asleep, is receiving the refreshment necessary to
fit him for action: but the hours spent in dozing and slumbering can
hardly be called existence.'

The late Dr. Smith, of Yale College, in his lectures, used to urge on
his hearers never to take '_the second nap_.' He said that if this rule
were steadily and universally followed by persons in health,--there
would be no dozing or oversleeping. If, for once, they should awake
from the first nap before nature was sufficiently restored, the next
night would restore the proper balance. In laying this down as a rule,
Dr. Smith would, of course, except those instances in which we are
awakened by accident.

4. It has been remarked by experienced physicians that they have
seldom, if ever, known a person of great age, who was not an early
riser. In enumerating the causes of longevity, Rush and Sinclair both
include early rising.

5. It is a trite but just maxim that one hour's sleep before midnight
is worth two afterward. Why it is so, would perhaps be difficult to
say. The power of habit is great, and as the majority of children are
trained to go to bed early, perhaps this will in part account for the
fact. So when the usual hour for meal arrives, a given amount of food
eaten at the time, is digested in a more healthy and regular manner
than if eaten one, or two, or three hours afterwards. Again, nature
certainly intended man should exercise during the day, and sleep in the
night. I do not say the _whole_ night; because in the winter