Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1895-10-24
FLATS IN LONDON.
The English Fear That They VIII Alter
the National Character

the National Character.
1t Is maintained by some sociol
ogists that the custom of living in
flats instead of in separate tene-
ments will, if universally adopted,
create an entirely different type of
national character. They point to
tho we'll known instance of the Ken
lucky cave fish, a species in which
as a result of many generations
spent in darkness. the organ of sight
has entirely persisted, and they urge
that the English flat fish, " if with
out offense we may so describe him,
will ultimately be affected in some
equally marked manner by his sur
roundings. Possibly the muscles
which we at present employ in the
ascent and descent of stairs will in
the course of centuries dwindle and
become aborted through the con-
slant use of the lift, while it is not
impossible that the tendency to early
marriages am ong the class of female
domestics may be profoundly modi-
lied by The practice of carrying on
fiirtatiops with the baker through
the speaking tube.
These, however, are remote spec-
ulations. Evolutionary processes
much speedier in their action may
and indeed must be set on foot I'M
der The conditions of life in a fiat.
For one thing, it tends inevitably to
promote the tacit formation of
new code of social manners. The
practice of piling up human abodes
one on the top of another instead of
side by side and the consequent
necessity imposed upon their occu-
pants of employing some common
means of ingress to and egress from
their respective dwellings almost
compel them to establish conven-
tons of their own.
There arises, so to speak, ''ver-
tical'' etiquette of social life which
differs from the lateral form pre-
vailing among the inhabitants of de-
tached, semidetached or even doubly
attached houses. What, for instance,
is the true inwardness of the lift?
Is it to be regarded as common
apartment, like the coffee room of a
hotel, or merely as common con-
veyance, like railway carriage or
an omnibus? For, according as it is
one or the other, SO may the init
macy which it creates or implies as
between those who are continually
meeting each other therein be held
to vary in amount.
Then, again, there is the burning
question of the piano, which indeed
has already engaged the attention
of the law courts. 1t is obvious that
the use of this instrument in a flat,
where the performer is usually
nearer, though not on that account
dearer, to his, or, more often, her
audience than is the case with sep
arate houses, requires stricter reg
rlations than are needed elsewhere.
1t is question in which the excel
lenG maxim of the Roman law, $50
use thy own property as not to in
jure that of others, does not help
so much. 1t is difficult to say at
what hour in the morning or to
what time of night the pianist may
begin or may continue to use this
disturbing piece of property with
out detracting from the amenities
of neighbours abode One thing
seems pretty clear-that in this, as
in other like matters. the etiquette
observed among fat dwellers should
be of more rather than of less
ceremonious description than that
to which people living next door to
each other need conform. And
among what may be called the aris-
tocracy of falkland there is reason to
believe that this obligation is suffi-
GENTLY recognized. London Tele-
graph.