The sun., 1908-06-21
MIR. FLATDWELLERs TROUBLES.
What Is to Him the Most Disturbin. Fea-
ture or the Noises Overhead.


"What I object to- said Mr. Flatdweller.
lis not the amount Of noise the people over
US make, but the irregularity of it. For
| instance: -
"A man can sleep all right in sawmill.
sawmill Is noisy place; but the purring
Of the saws is continuous, seer And you
very soon get used to It; and when you
have once got your nerves adjusted to the
hum you can sleep all right.
Just the same about boiler factory.
Noisy place. a boiler factory, very noisy;
but there's no notwithstanding
all the time-and when you've once got
accustomed to II you don't notice II. You
can sleep all right In boiler factory.
But venture to say that even the man
who could sleep soundly in a sawmill or q
boiler factory would almost certainly be
disturbed by any sort Of sudden, violently
explosive noises near at hand, especially
IL those explosions came Mt irregular in
tervals-and that's the sort OF thing that
troubles us about the people overhead.
1t isn't the amount Of noise they make,
but it's e1plosiveness and irrsgularity.
They are, great people for having com
, week, and they get noisy almost from the
jump. II you didn't know there was no
chimney running up through the house
you'd think they started of by playing the
old fashioned game a running around the
chimney, But we soon get used to this be-
cause, like the noise In sawmll or boiler
factory, 1t is, in its way, regular; 1t is steady
and constant; and with that rlmbing and
tumblng and pounding and jumping going
on steadily we settle ourselves down COM
noises-and then all OF a sudden the uproar
overhead atopS!
And actually that is shock to us. With
drawing the uproar suddenly like that seems
to create a sort OF vacuum, and the empty
still mess is for the moment positively dis
and maybe you like the quiet better than
you did the uproar, and 90 you get settled
down again comfortably to your reading
and you wish they'd stay quiet like that
for little while-you see they are sort OF
resting up after their previous romping and
jumpipg-and you get interested in your
book and forget about everything else.
and thsn Bang! some iron hand with extra
iron weights on the fingers descends on
the keys Of the piano overhead and for
minute or two it's all OF; you are thrown.
as you might say into q state Of mental
chaos and confusion. But soon you get used
to that too: for there is no let up to this
sort Of players work, he keeps pounding
all the time.
1T did certainly jar you whole lot when
IL started so suddenly, but it's continuity
saves you, you can get used to anything.
and 40 you settle down to your reading
again. while the pounding continues. And
then finally that stops and everybody ap-
plauds vigorously; but this tapers Of at
last and then we hear a grand shutting Of
chairs and we imagine that they are sitting
down to play cards. and We have another
period OF comparative quiet to be broken
finally at the end OF the game by loud, up
roarious laughter. and then we have another
turn Of the iron hand at the piano.
And 30 the evening passes. with alternat-
ing periods OF tumult and of quiet. But
the worst-not the loudest OF the noises,
but the worst-s yet to come.
1--WE go to bed pretty early where live
and am sure to be suugly wrapped up by
overhead happens TO be in one OF its quiet
spells when ! 60 TO bed.
II never takes me long to 60 TO sleep,
and I'm Just doing OF comfortably when
Whang! Slam Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bangi comes a chorus Of pounding on the
floor above that shakes down particles Of
plaster from our ceiling Somebody has
just told story and the people upstairs
are, applauding by pounding on the floor
with their feet,
"And then it's all on again for me; for
now there's more shuff1ing around again
and more pounding on the piano and more
uproar generally, and then quiet, and then
suddenly another outburst and by midnight
Pm 80 stirred up that can't sleep at all
and they keep this going until O'Clock
in the morning