Again, too, the refreshment taken, the first long sound sleep, nature’s great restorer, how different to watch now, to when the restless patient tossed and turned and muttered, and seemed to suffer more than when awake! There is something very beautiful in a calm and tranquil sleep—
“An infant when it gazes on the light,
A child the moment when it drains the breast,
* * * * *
Feel rapture, but not such true joy are reaping
As they who watch o’er what they love while sleeping.
“For there it lies, so tranquil, so beloved,
All that it hath of life with us is living,
So gentle, stirless, helpless, and unmoved,
And all unconscious of the joy ’tis giving.”