Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1898-07-15
WASHINGTON IS NOISY.
Although There Are No Manufnc tur-
ing Establishments, the Din
IL Great.

Washington strikes stranger as be-
ing very peculiar town in more than
one respect. Without manufacturing
establishments and block pavements,
it is, nevertheless, noisy town, and the
visitor who is not stone deaf cannot re-
main here many days without deriving
the knowledge that there are noises.
The swill man blows a fish horn at each
house, and blows it hard. He collects
the swill in sheet iron cart, the heavy
lid CT which is raised by a lever and falls
by it's own considerable weight. The
fall is like the discharge OF a six-pound-
er, and it is repeated at every door The
public vehicles, such as express wagons,
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 does not drown the rattle
of the wagons they draw or that push
them along. Worst of all, however, is
the whistling of the negroes. The cry
ing of babies in the residence streets
is bad enough. AS soon as the little COL
ored nurse girl gets away from her mis-
tress' sight she pays no further atten-
ton to the infant. and it cries. That
does not disturb her nearly as much as
it does the neighbors, so she makes no
effort to pacify it. Every negro of
either sex who is above six years old can
whistle we'll in most cases and loud in
all. They are in the streets till long
after midnight. and as long as they are
awake they whistle. So do the souchy,
easy-going, chummy white policemen.
This, with the loud talk of the negroes,
interferes with the visitors rest.
The citizen of New York cannot con-
ceive of the distressing persistency of
the negro whistler in Washington. The
victims OF extreme sensiblity, the many
persons who suffer from hyperesthesia,
find it serious nuisance and real uf-
Fiction. 1t is one of the rarest things
to meet a colored man or boy who is
not at it. Of rs negro males who
passed a given point during a recent
investi gation, 10 were whistling, one
was singing in a loud voice and the
others were talking loud. If two ne
groes are walking together, touching
elbows, they will speak as though they
were 800 feet apart. Some are musical
and artistic whistlers, who pick up am
bilious melodies from the hand organs
and from a little German band that
seems to have become as much of a
Washington institution as the Marine
band. 1t appears at the same hour
every day at certain houses, but as it's
repertory is limited and fixed it be-
comes wearisome. The many street
organ grinders, too, have their regular
patrons. but they exchange instru-
ments with one another occasionally.
If Washington cannot change the
character of her streets in respect of
noises at night, at any rate she can
change their names. That is now pro-
posed, or virtually decided on. They
are to be named in such a way as to in
dictate their relations with the capitol
and with one another. The people of
Washington have always boosted of the
present system of naming streets and
numbering houses, and perhaps when
the fact is considered that the streets
run in all directions it may be worthy
of praise. To the stranger some fea-
lures are puzzling, but when the sys-
tenn is explained it is easily understood.
1t is proposed to name the streets run
ming in one direction by the name of
the presidents, in their proper order of
succession. TO know how many blocks
squares they call them here-away
any street is one will have to be ac-
quainted with the order in which presi-
dents have held office. Then the streets
running in another direction will be
named after the cities of the United
States, the initial letter to indicate it's
relations with the central street. Thus,
the first street will be Albany or At
lanta, the second Boston or Baltimore,
and SO on. Then for the diagonal
streets the names of American rivers
and lakes will be used. 1t is proposed
to retain the terminal designations n.
w.. S. w., n. f.. and S. +. Minor streets
and alleys will be called "places,"
courts" alleys" or terraces" in
stead Of streets.-N. Y. Sun.
Hooded Snakes.
Dr. Stradlinr throws some INTEREST