282 THE WONDERFUL HOUSE THAT JACK HAS 



Grades skipped at school through cutting off needed 

 rest at night are a poor bargain when, as is often 

 the case, nervousness and ill health are among the 

 consequences. 



About three hundred years ago, Cervantes, a well- 

 known Spanish author, made one of the characters 

 of his most famous book say: "Now blessings 

 light on him that first invented sleep. It is the cloak 

 that covers men's thoughts. It is meat for the hungry, 

 drink for the thirsty, cold for the hot, and heat for the 

 cold. It is the money that purchases all the pleasures 

 of the world cheap. It is the balance and weight that 

 equals the shepherd with the king, the simple with 

 the wise." Carefully study the meaning of this quota- 

 tion, and decide whether the same benefits might not 

 be justly claimed for sleep to-day. An American 

 poet, John G. Whittier, includes "Sleep that wakes 

 with laughing day" among the greatest joys of the 

 barefoot boy. By remembering the value of such 

 sleep, and daily allowing ourselves a reasonable amount, 

 can we not keep it among our precious possessions? 



