The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-06
WASHINGTON A NOISY TOWN.
Negro WhistIers and Loud Takers
on the street Are Largely Respon-

on the Street Are Largely RespOn-
sibIe.
Washington Letter in New York Sum-
Washington strikes a stranger as being
a very peculiar town In more than one re-
spect. without manufacturing establish
ments and block pavements, 1t is, never
theless, a noisy town. and the visitor who
is not stone deaf cannot remain here many
days without deriving the knowledge that
there are noises. The swill man blows
fish horn at each house, and blows It hard.
He collects the swill in n sheet-iron cart,
the heavy lid of which Is raised by a lever
and falls by its own considerable weight.
The public vehicles, such as express wag-
ons, carts and the like are mostly owned
by negroes, who pay no attention to loose
bolts and tires. The steeds are like hat
racks but even the rattle of their bones do
not drown the rattle of the wagons they
draw or that push them along. Worst of
all, however, is the whistling of the ne
groes. The crying Of babies in the resi-
dence streets is bad enough. AS soon as
the little colored nurse girl gets away from
her mistress sight she pays no further
attention to the infant, and It cries. That
does not disturb her nearly as much as II
does the neighbors, so she makes no ef-
fort to pacify 1t. Every negro of either
sex who is above 6 years old and under
70 can and does whistle. The negroes can
whistle we'll in most cases and loud Ia all.
They are In the street till long after mid
night, and as long as they are awake they
whistle. SO do the slouchy, easy-going.
chummy white policemen. This, with the
loud talk of the negroes, interferes with
the visitors rest.
THE cfff1ap 0f NaW York canuof conceive
of the distressing persistency Of the negro
whistler in Washington. The victims OF
extreme senslbility, the many persons who
suffer from hyperesthesia, find Ii a serious
nuisance and real affection. 1t Is one of
the rarest things 10 meet a colored man or
boy who is not at H. OF twenty-five ne
gro males who passed a given point during
a recent investigation, nineteen were
whisting, one was singing In
a loud voice, and the others were talk
ing loud If two negroes are walking to-
gether, touching elbows, they will speak as
though they were 800 feet apart Some are
musical and artistic whistlers, who pick
up ambitious melodies from the band that
seems to have become as much OF a Wash
ington Institution as the Marine band. IL
appears at the same hour every day at
certain houses, but as its repertory Is lin
itey and hxed 1t becomes wearisome. The
many street organ grinders, too, have their
regular patrons but they exchange instru-
ments with one another occasionally.
II Washington cannot change the char
acter OF her streets in respect OF noises at
night, at any rate she can change their
names. That is now proposed, or virtu-
ally decided on They are to be named In
such a way as to Indicate their relations
with the capitol and with one another The
people of Washington have always boast
ed OF the present sytem OF naming streets
and numbering houses. and perhaps when
i'm ali directions IL may be worthy of praise.
To the stranger some features are puz-
zling, but when the system Is explained
the game Is easy.
Ii As proposed to name the streets run
ming ia one direction by the names OF the
Presidents, Ia their proper order Of sue
eesslon. To know how many blocks
SQUARES they call them here-away any
street is one will have to be acquainted
with the order in which Presidents have
held Office. Then the streets running in an
other direction will be named after the ci-
ties Of the United States. the initial letter
to Indicate its relations with the central
street. Thus, the first street viii be Albany
or Atlanta, the second Boston or Baltimore
and so on. Then for the diagonal streets
the names OF American rivers and lakes
win be used II is proposed to retain the
terminal designations N. W., S. W., NJ e..
and s. r. Minor streets and alleys viii be
called places" courts" alleys" or
terraces" instead Of streets.