The Washington herald., 1914-02-04
WOMAN And THE HOME
WHO'S WHO AMONG
PROMINENT WOMEN
Mrs. Imosen OakIsy and Her Cam
paisn for Quiet in the
Quaker City.
81 Many .. MuLLRfT.

~ AAR Ne AOA<s<. = -
tcesynsbt. ias, b. Mcc,urs Newspaper sssdisate)
Having been brought up to think Of
PhIIadeIphia as suprsmeiy slumbrous
city, most Of us win be quite bowlsd over
by Ms. Imogen oakiey's pubiiciy-sx-
pressed opinion Of that town. She openly
calls the Quaker city the noisiest one In
America This ID certainly surprising;
but inasmuch a. she lives there. perhaps
she ought to know.
Mn. Oakley doesn't regard noise n
eonfsrring distinction. Indeed. her creed
on the subject may be Expressed in three
words: Down with DIM Another Of her
fsvorite notices may not be quite 10 con-
else a. this one. but II Is just As full OF
feeling. II 10 particularly applicable to
street vending Of every variety. and is
~ follows:
"The right to sell does not convey the
right to YELL
point of making a list of all the "pre-
ventabie and Questionable noises which
assailed her ears during a single day.
from 4 o. m. until midnight. She found
that there was an average Of one every
three minutes of that time. making the
respectable total Of 36oo for the day. In
view Of this fact, perhaps u is not to be
wondered at that Mrs. Oakley Is 30 ear
nest In her determination to make Phil
adelphia the peaceful abode It In COM
monty. though mistakenly. supposed to be.
Seven years ago. one June evening. Mrs.
Oakley-who is a director Of the Civic
Club and a member of many civic COM
mittees-asked an audience OF tenement
women what was the hardest thing they
had to put up with. She asserts that the
consensus of their replies was that the
thing they found most dificut of endur-
ance was the never-ending. maddening
noise of the city streets.
That verdict was enough to make Of
Mrs. Oakley one OF the most active anti
noise workers In this country. As the re-
suit of her efforts the city council of
Philadelphia has established zones OF
quiet" around the hospitals-a thing
whicn some other cities had done long
Beforehand similar zones of quiet have
been laid out around the schools
AntI-Noise 0rdiaanee.
But far more sweeping reforms will be
necessary before this enemy Of needless
noise will be satisfied. New York passed
an anti-noise ordinance seven years ago
through the efforts Of one woman. too.
Before that time, the ears Of the people
Of the greatest city In America has been
ceaselessly tortured by the screaming Of
tug whistles and the grinding screech Of
fiat-wheeled street cars. in addition to the
millions OF other sounds which make up
the roar of life In a great human hive.
Within one month after the ordinance
passed. over LOO nat wheels were BAN
ished. Next the tugboat captains and
pilots-there are hundreds of them plying
in New York waters-were found TO be
screeching frequent salutinE blasts to
friends and families ashore. Nice enough,
perhaps. for the saluted: but uncommonly
hard on some millions of other human
beings within unwilling earshot. This
little steam-whistie compliment has been
almost abolished-again thanks to q wom-
ans campaign.
Mrs Oakley. in Philadelphia, wants to
rouse her own city to an even greater
severity toward reckless noisemakers.
She declares that many invalids, to whom
sleep is an actual necessity. have virtual
ly been killed by these unnecessary city
noices. In proof of this she refers to the
hospital reports. which show that the
mortality in these institutions Is always
greater on days like the Fourth Of July
when the carnival Of noise Is at its mad
dest.
Would Suppress Cries.
Mrs. Oakley would suppress also the
men who wander through the streets ut
tering raccous cries OF Strawberries,
Strawberries" or "Old rags! old iron, and
bottles,' In the first place you never can
tell whether the man is calling Straw
berries!'' or ''Old iron"' anyway. And
in any case she contends for the essential
truth of her motto that ''the right to sell
does not convey the right to yell.'
As for barrel-organs. she does not share
the weakness for them to which some
Of US more or less frankly own She
would ruthlessly suppress all canned mu-
sic of This variety. And she Is adamant,
also. on the subject of, sparrows; English
sparrows. of course. She quotes the De-
partment of Agriculture on the matter.
and II certainly does give them the black
est kind of character. They drive away
other birds, they don't destroy insects
and As for noise. they weary the ears of
whole neighborhoods with their ceaseless
rasping chatter. Hence this kindly. beau
tiful woman feeds them rat poison with
out a Cnalm OF conscience and urges other
women to follow her example.
A well-known physician of Boston has
declared that Americans will become deaf
IL nothing is done to quiet the incessant
noises OF our cities. He might, with more
truth, have said that our nerves will get
SO worn out we will at least wish we were
deaf. 1t Is recognized by physicions that
the noise Of city life is a powerful factor
in causing the increasing frequency OF
nervous prostration. Women who, like
Mrs. Oakley. are using their energy and
influence to restore q measure OF peace
and blessed quiet to those of us who
must be classed as modern cliff-dwellers.
are earning the grateful thanks OF mil
lions of their fellow-citizens.
For . Valentine Luncheon.
A nice menu for a Valentine Day lunch
con is as follows: