New-York tribune., 1889-12-23
THE EVIL OF Trim PARTITION WALLs
A HoME-sEEKER TELLS OF HIS woEs-rAKyy
FOR A BURGLAR BY NEIGHBoR

FOR A BURGLAR BY A NEIGHBoR.
The man who earns his living in New York and hm
bis home In Brooklyn Is daily becoming a more in
portant factor IN the life OF the two great cities and
II will presently be found necessary 10 do great many
things with special reference to his needs. lie i
often with tastes and refinement which bys
superficial observer would be deemed out Of keeping
with his means and his employment He Is truly
domestic man. and his first thought always Is foe
bis home and the health and comfort Of wife and
children. His earnings may not exceed the mods,
figure OF 50 900 year. and frequently much less,
but he has moved from Hat in New-York 10 lItth
house all TO himself Brooklyn, and insists havins
all the peace, comfort and even luxury that mag h
obtained In a sensible and modest way He pays abou.
the same price for the neat little house, with an
modern improvements as he formerly paid for the
dngy New-York fiat, and is usually from half 70
three-quarers of hour nearer to his place d
business than before. He IS temperate earnest
man. and consequen tly good citizen, and he is chiefly
responsible for the vast increase I'm Brookyn's popua
ton and the consequent building up Of the outlying
districts of the city. His coming and staying Is
.he hope Of the propertyowner the holder Of elevated
and surface railroad stock the grocer and tho
city in general
Another fact about him which deserves special It,
tenon Is that he sooner later buys a house; and
is on this point that complaint often heard bears
people become accustomed TO petty annoyances, dis
turbances from their neghbors overhead, etc. but
when man buys home he will generally take
not TO select one I'm which the footsteps and voices
of his neighbors either side constant
of irritation and discomfort He Is we'll aware that
the partition walls thin to permit Others
to disturb him he may also be offender II they
sensitive, for bis children sometimes cry and
1t is daily habit Of his wife to entertain him with
vocal or instrumental music.
81" The fault find with most Of the new house.
that being built in Brooklyn to accommodate
people of small IS that the dividing walls
are too thln" said a New-York man In discussing
this subject the other day. In many OF the rows
of two-st0ry and basement and three-story houses,
now ready for or in the course OF
erection in the Twenty fifth Ward and elsewhere only
two thlcknesses barely six inches of brick and
mortar divide house from another and such walls
altogether too thin for comfort safety and often
even for decency. found that suited me for size.
situation and price and rented 10 with the intention of
buying II 1t suited well after six months trial
Before three weeks had passed, however, swoke to
the unpleasant realization that the place would not
answer for permanent home. In fact. wanted 10
get out Of it as soon as possible. At night every
movement and the conversation Of the neighbors
was heard almost plainly as If in the same house.
The annoyance at times was intolerable and In
deScrDaDle, ana at ldSt a cllilldA was rcdcne1.
came home, as usual about a m, and momens
after entering thought the house in uproar
and that each member Of my family was either cry
ing, shouting, foundering about his room.
moments investigation proved that was wrong. and
that the racket emanated from my neighbors tho
north and south. In house a sick child. a very
one, sbrieking the top Of its voice and
the loud notes of both parents were distinctly heard
above the din, as they engaged in wordy cona,s
the urchns behavior In the other house
1t clear that my entrance, Witch
had effected with the least possible noise
the cause of all the disturbance. My neighbor
that side had been robbed in NewJersey, and
nervous man, who kept loaded shotgun beside
his bed. My coming had aroused him, and he had
toughest kind Of burglar. Then heard him as he
danced about in terror, shouting:
Get out of that, you devils, or III fill you with
buckshot.'
His wife assured him that he was mistaken, and
She took her candle and went down TO the basement
Presently she back reporting that the locks and
bolts were all right and that the disturbance was evil
dently caused by that fool next door, who never got
home at a respectable hour Other pleasant remarks
followed respecting myself, and could hear what was
said as distinctly as II It had been in an adjoining
Before buy house. therefore, and before even
rent another in case that should be necessary VIII
make sure that there proper partition walls oelWen
against disturbing them against their doing Ike
wise to me. and think the building laws ought 20
reouire more decent barrier between famlheS than
a six. inch porous brick wall"