INJURIOUS INFLUENCES OF CITY LIFE. 487 



The noise of a city is at first painful and confusing to one un- 

 accustomed to it. We do not maintain that a really bad effect is 

 at once apparent upon most individuals. When people are sub- 

 jected to such a variety of influences, it is difficult to isolate and 

 measure the result of one. Not infrequently a change from a 

 noisy to a quieter part of the town is most beneficial to especially 

 sensitive individuals. Much noise is unnecessary to the perform- 

 ance of most useful work. It means waste, wear and tear in the 

 majority of cases. 



The most perfect are the most noiseless machines, and this ap- 

 plies to the social organism as well. The rattle of badly built 

 wagons over poor pavements, the ringing of milkmen's bells, or 

 the jangling of those on street-cars, street cries, and the like, have 

 long been recognized as evils in European cities, and suppressed 

 in many places. In certain streets in Berlin heavily laden carts 

 and wagons are never allowed, and in others only when the horses 

 walk. In Munich the street-cars have no bells. Recently in New 

 York a measure has been under favorable consideration to abolish 

 the ringing of milkmen's bells, and to have those on street-cars 

 taken off. The immense relief to the residents of a street in Balti- 

 more, where the cars run every three minutes in each direction, 

 when the bells were omitted for several weeks on account of sick- 

 ness in that street, will not soon be forgotten. 



Every one will instinctively call to mind boiler-makers and 

 workers in factories as instances where men work for years in 

 incessant din without injury. These are instances like those of 

 pearl-divers and miners, and show rather what can be endured by 

 some than what is best for most. On the other hand, we have all 

 known individuals in whom slight noises cause absolute pain. 

 The blowing of locomotive and factory-whistles within city lim- 

 its has been abolished in some of our largest municipalities. The 

 loud ringing of church-bells at all hours of the day and night, 

 in this age, when every one knows the hour of prayer, hardly 

 recommends the religion of good-will to men. All these unneces- 

 sary noises add more weight to the overtaxed nervous systems of 

 many men and women who can not escape them. It is certain 

 that with the increasing intensity of city life, and its consequent 

 strain, such things must be lessened, as far as compatible with 

 business interests. Suitably enforced municipal regulations can 

 do this. Elevated railroads should not be permitted in streets 

 where men and women live, underground roads should take their 

 place where it is possible. Certain streets, or blocks at least, 

 should be reserved for business purposes, others for dwellings 

 alone, and heavy wagons allowed only in the first named, unless 

 they are to leave their freight in the block. Rattling irons and 

 chains should not be allowed. Pavements should be thoroughly 



