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Story: City images

Early to bed

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Early to bed

In the early 1900s there was a widespread anxiety that city life made people weak and nervous. This newspaper clipping from 1909 suggests that city children require more restorative sleep than country children and should have earlier bedtimes.

Using this item

National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past

Reference: Otago Witness, 29 September 1909, p. 76

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Ben Schrader, City images – Colonial views of city life, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/25290/early-to-bed (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ben Schrader, published 3 March 2010.