CHAPTER XI 



WHY AND HOW WE NEED TO SLEEP 



Once in a great battle on the river Nile some British 

 soldiers had to be awake so long and work so hard by 

 day and by night that at last some of them fell asleep 

 on the deck of the ship in the midst of the fighting. 



They wanted to keep awake and they tried not to 

 sleep, but they could not help themselves. 



In another battle the captain of a man-of-war fell asleep 

 too, and the strange part of it was that although a great 

 cannon was firing all the time only six feet away from 

 him, he slept two hours and did not hear a sound. 



Soldiers have done even stranger things than that. 

 They have fallen asleep while they were marching along, 

 and they have walked several steps while they were 

 asleep. Of course, they wakened very soon, but they did 

 march and sleep at the same time. 



Children who work in factories often have just as 

 much trouble about keeping awake when they are very 

 tired. They try with all their might not to go to sleep 

 while they are working, because they know they will be 

 punished if they do ; but suddenly, before they know it, 

 they are fast asleep. 



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