Page:The Sunday Eight O'Clock (1916).pdf/185

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The Loafer
'Twas the voice of the sluggard,
I heard him complain:
"You have waked me too soon,
I must slumber again."

I HAVE never known what loafer it was who inspired these ancient lines, but I have always suspected that the fellow who wrote them had met Higgins. Higgins was a direct descendant of one, of the seven sleepers; he was on the most intimate terms with Morpheus, and Somnus, and ether and all the other gods and agencies which induce prolonged and refreshing sleep.

I have called him over the telephone at noon to be told by the freshman who answered that he was not up yet. I have dropped in at his fraternity house at nine in the evening to be informed that he was rather tired and had gone to bed early. I