The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-16
FIVE VACANT FLATS.
0unrrels Among Tennnta That Have Caused
tho Landlord To stop smiling.

"
0unrrels Among Tennnta That Have Caused
tho Landlord To stop smiling.
There is a house of flats in ono of the cross
streets, above Seventy-second street and below
Morningsidc. the census Of which. on Sept. 1.
was as follows:
decentralization. five children, six dogs.
First Floor-Family OF four adults.
Second Floor-Two actresses and q rheumatic un.
Gle.
Third Floor-wall street bachelor who thought he
could sing.
Fourth Floor-Three sisters. one q widow with a
baby that had competitive lungs.
Fifth Floor-Man and wife, servant, two cats, and q
dog.
The census Jan. ] was:
Decentralization, children. and dogs.
There is a sign For rent" in one Of the win
dows of each flat. The man who owns the
building has not smiled since Christmas.
The people in the first fiat lived in the day
time. The occupants OF fiat . lived in the night.
Family in first fiat went to bed between 8 and
Top NJ. Occupants of fiat 2 went to bed be-
tween 3 and 4 A. NJ. They chartered and dis
cussed the play and the audience. and talked
shop necessarily until they fell asleep from cx-
haustion. This broke in upon the slumbers of
tho people in fiat /. They complained to the
%janitor. but without result. One of the family
WIN wat COHklutTtu u DTlRuJ Jill WTOL6 u nOIG.
1t was something like this:
THE people IN the fiat beneath you work in the
daytime. They would ike TO sleep In the night.
Any contribution on your part to this ond Will be ap-
preciated."
Each member of tho family read the note and
approved the same. TWAS dropped in tho letter
box OF the occupants of fiat =.
That evening u note was taken from the letter
box of fiat !. 1t was something like this:
The occupants of the second fiat work in the night.
They must sleep IN the day. They regret that this Is
SO. and suggest that the occupants IN the Hat below
change their sleeping quarters or move out"
How can one change ones sleeping quarters
In a fiat like this without moving out !" said one
of tho occupants of No. l.
Several communications of a brilliant char
acter passed between fiat one and fiat two. The
letter boy Of fas one was often erammed with
sometimes loaded with hairpins and scraps from
u waste basket.
The Wall street bachelor who thought no had
a voice. and Iabored on IL every morning be-
tween 10, and II, was politely requested one
day to do his singing at night. as the people in
CURED in fiat one If his singing-he called 1t
that-disturbed the occupants, and OF course
they said no. The smart one In fiat ono urged
pants of fiat one liked it..
~janitor that the man in Flat 8 disturbed their
baby with his singing. They didn't know what
anyhow. The bachelor sent word to the sisters
that their baby disturbed him. and suggested
s thss ssSy tic was Sp m iss m aSe bsch mhs SSey sh% a v6 ahis
calling GIE down 3Sn, the tn court something Ike this;
"Shoot it!'
Then there was a sound as II three women
were doing a dance, and the squalls of n baby
accompanied them. The occupant of fiat 5 sent
the servant to fiat 4 to say that the disturbance
In the latter was such as to annoy the occn:
pants of No. 5. But the remonstrance was of
no avail: In fact. the bitterness between the
that the dos, added his howls to the other
noises of the flats.
A scarlet fever sign caused the occupants Of
fiat 4 to move out hurriedly.. or course. there
was no scarlet fever In the building.
The sign was traced 10 fiat 3, and the occu-
pants moved out because they were "suspects.'
The bachelor in fiat 3 received a motto one day
which caused him to conclude that he was being
watched too closely, and his departure was very
sudden.
The actresses went on tho road. and the
rheumatic uncle was sent to a sanitarium.
The people In fiat l complained of coal gas,
lack Of heat. no hot water, and the collaboration
OF six barks. The combination caused them to
move.
The building Is vacant. 1t is n monument to
q folly which some day will be revolutioniZed In
this and other large cities. There will come n
time when the mortality statistics will be 30
alarming as to cause inquiry. And the investi.
CATION will show that five or more families. each
with different ideas and hours of business and
COMPARTMENTS. cannot be cooped up under ono
roof and live.