Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-03-11

And, first and chief, the messy banks
With the arbute'5 rosy trail adorn,
And In song Will give thee thanks,
Thanks that thou wilt not scOrn.
For one who to my heart is dear
Sight of that flower will so rejoice,
That in my thanks thou hers wilt hear,
And music or her voice
Come, then, and with the arbute blend
The liver-leaf for MARGINS brow;
And February, TO the end
Be mild as thou art now.
w. L. SHOEMAKER
College Woods, February 20, 1882
Washington should BE the City of
Pleasant Living.
To the Editor of The Evening STAR:
Perhaps there could be no better time than
the present. while new code for the District Is
under consideration. for those interested, in
Congress and out oft, to take their bearings as
to the leading characteristic which should run
through all orr local laws and regulations Ger
tain things common To all cities are so we'll I'M
derstood as to need little discussion Certain
things may also be of much importance to one
community which would be unworthy of serious
consideration i'm another. While pOrk-packin@
in Chicago, commercial facilities i'm Baltimore
and iron in Pittsburg may be the chief end of
HIdH tiSD Has iitI one
feature. her one particular interest as sharply
defined and as important to her prosperity
those of the cities named. 1t gives the key
note to those responsible for our local govern
ment, should never be lost sight of. and should
color such public policy" as we have.
IL this is not the city OF pork, of iron or Of
steamships. if it be no longer the city of mag
nificent distances. what is it? 1t is-it should
be-The City of Pleasant Living. 1t has advan-
tages for this which no other ever combined i'm
a pfIr al Hpsrrp nd has fxEn Gisa6-
vantages peculiar TO itself On this line-Of
pleasant liying-lie success and prosperity as
city and capital.
So much for gIittering generaIities which are
probably pretty well understOOd-as general
tiles. To be specific. this is a city in which
heavy. persistent and unsparng hand should be
laid upon the hoOdlum. 1t is city in which it
ought not to be necessary to disf9ure the
streets ny tree-bOXes afterthe trees have learned
TO stand alone. Ii ought not TO be necessary to
abandon the cultivation of flowers within reach
OF the street or else keep a shotgun. 1t ought
not to be necessary for quiet people to com
plain III orjer to keep the meat and vegetables
of hUcksters and butchers inside their places of
business Ii ought not to be necessary for
gentleman after doing what he can to enbel-
lish his home. to break up and go into quarter
OF the city where he cannot afford to i've in
order to get rid of row of dead hogs which
some squatting butcher who came after him
hangs up along the sidewalk as near as possible
to his front door. 1t ought not to be necessary
for people tired with mental labor to spend their
evenings in back room to escape the outside
yelis that NIL the front ones. 1t ought not to be
necessary for person to get up in the morning
till his duties call him because the gong OF
milk-cart will not let him rest. 1t ought not to
be necessary to go to the door Oftener than
once an hour to answer the ring of beggar.
IL IL city. above all others. where the very
gentlest of the people should ENJOY the streets
The rich can buy some immunity from such an
noyances- But it is one of the glorieS of WASH
1ngtOn that riches here are slight test of excel
hence. To Counteract their tendency to become
more and more a test. the greatest possible
protection in pleasant living should be given
those equally gentle who cannot buy immunity
There are neiGhbOrhoods inhabited by delicate
ladies and tired gentlemen. which. during the
holiday week. day and night. are almost unen-
durable from the single nuisance of Christmas
trumpets- In certain quarters they were ten
times worse than were ever the Oyster-hOrns of
other days They destroyed half the pleasure
OF Christmas to scores of families. who them
selves respect the rights of others and suffer in
silence.
This matter of unnecessary noise in the streets
Is not the same thing here it may be elsewhere
and is here serious matter. If people are
Affected by cesspoOl. the authorities do not
answer their complaints by telling them to get
used to it, III the suffering is real and the
noise Is unnecessary, that is enough - or
should be. The fact that noises are nuisances
here, which would not be noticed elsewhere
which would not be heard on Broadway. New
York. Is the very reason why we cannot 80 well
endure them The steady roar of New York
Ike that of the ocean, can be borne with equa-
nimity or even heard "ith pleasure. 1t is all
peryading- We know a lady here-whO has
spent most of her life in one of the busiest quar-
tiers OF that city, who while fine and sensitive
es are most American women. Is not the victim
OF any disease-wh0se only objection to Wash
1ngton is ON account of its noises. The milk
Rongs, the hovls of hO0dlums the braying OF
tOy-trumPets which she would never notice
there, exaspera.e and distract her here.
When she visits her former home
she cOngratulates herself on the
restoration OF her nervous system by the sound
sleep and quiet she obtains there We take
just pride In cur asphalt pavements. but every
one We lay down makes ii more imperative that
other things should correspond i'm Stiffness As
we take away the neutralizing roar we must
stop the individual small raekets in proportion.
The acts and police regulations necessary in a
city where the mOnotonOus and comparatively
harmless roar OF wheels browns everything else
are no standard by which to judge what Is de-
sirabie here. In q certain sense the stiller we
are the nOsier We become Away from a few
thorougbfares this city is peculiarly free from
the neutrallZing hum of great city, there be-
ing no stone payements worth mentioning and
the outcher-knife sounds are as effective as in
country village. or all American cities this re-
qulres, Tor the development of its idea" the
most thorough, efficient, all-pervading policing
VI all cities of its size it has the least.
One reason why nulsanceS which elsewhere
might be too petty TO demand public attention
are not SO here is because the people are so di-
verse. These small matters cannot be left to the
saving Common sense OF the dwellers as i'm q
more homogeneous community. The unity i'm
feeling and taste and education. which, in some
places. would cause the residents of a street to
tacitly decline 10 take milk Of the man who was
too noisy, or to deal with the man who makes a
market Of the sidewalk, are not sufficient here
Y. \. u.
The Washington FroeheI society.