interfere with it, and then only let the child sleep without
disturbance, until it awakes of its own accord on the following
morning, and it will have had sufficient rest.

[FN#16] The amount of sleep necessary to preserve health varies
according to the state of the body, and the habits of the individual.
As already observed, infants pass much the greater portion of their
time in sleep. Children sleep twelve or fourteen hours. The schoolboy
generally ten. In youth, a third part of the twenty-four hours is spent
in sleep. Whilst, in advanced age, many do not spend more than four,
five, or six hours in sleep.

It is a cruel thing for a mother to sacrifice her child's health that
she may indulge her own vanity, and yet how often is this done in
reference to sleep. An evening party is to assemble, and the little
child is kept up for hours beyond its stated time for retiring to rest,
that it may be exhibited, fondled, and admired. Its usual portion of
sleep is thus abridged, and, from the previous excitement, what little
he does obtain, is broken and unrefreshing, and he rises on the morrow
wearied and exhausted.

Once awake, it should not be permitted to lie longer in bed, but
should be encouraged to arise immediately. This is the way to bring
about the habit of early rising, which prevents many serious evils to
which parents are not sufficiently alive, promotes both mental and
corporeal health, and of all habits is said to be the most conducive to
longevity.

A child should never be suddenly aroused from sleep; it excites the
brain, quickens the action of the heart, and, if often repeated,
serious consequences would result. The change of sleeping to waking
should always be gradual.

The bed on which the child now sleeps should be a mattress: at this
age a feather bed is always injurious to children; for the body,
sinking deep into the bed, is completely buried in feathers, and the
unnatural degree of warmth thus produced relaxes and weakens the
system, particularly the skin, and renders the child unusually
susceptible to the impressions of cold. Then, instead of the bed being
made up in the morning as soon as vacated, and while still saturated
with the nocturnal exhalations from the body, the bed-clothes should be
thrown over the backs of chairs, the mattress shaken well up, and the
window thrown open for several hours, so that the apartment shall be
thoroughly ventilated. It is also indispensably requisite