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Gilbert Keith Chesterton - Songs Of Education: VI. Hygiene
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Form 394411102, Sub-Section X

"All practical Eugenists are agreed on the importance of sleep."--The Eugenic Congress.


    When Science taught mankind to breathe
    A little while ago,
    Only a wise and thoughtful few
    Were really in the know:
    Nor could the Youth his features wreathe,
    Puffing from all the lungs beneath:
    When Duty whispered softly "Breathe!"
    The Youth would answer "Blow!"

    When Science proved with lucid care
    The need of Exercise,
    Our thoughtless Youth was climbing trees
    Or lightly blacking eyes:
    To reckless idlers breaking bounds
    For football or for hare-and-hounds,
    Or fighting hard for fourteen rounds,
    It came as a surprise.

    But when she boldly counsels Sleep
    To persons when in bed,
    Then, then indeed men blush to see
    The daybreak blushing red:
    The early risers whom we term
    Healthy, grow sickly and infirm;
    The Early Bird who caught the Worm
    Will catch the Germ instead.

    For this at least be Science praised
    If all the rest be rot,
    That now she snubs the priggish child
    That quits too soon his cot:
    The pharisaic pachyderm
    Of spiritual pride shall squirm:
    The Early Bird catches the worm,
    The Worm that dieth not.
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