nger-signals, one would think,
would be equally effectual if they were not so loud, but now the
competition of sounds is so great that any warning must almost be
explosive in its violence to be audible at all. It is no wonder that
we find in this city so many people suffering from nerves; it is quite
surprising the number of men I have met who dare not drink coffee, men
who have had to give up smoking, men and women who were too nervous
to travel in a hansom, and who at frequent intervals have to retire to
the country owing to various kinds of nervous trouble. There seems to
be no question but that this suffering from nervous disorders is on
the increase; it would be surprising if it were otherwise, considering
the pace at which these people live; and when one sees thin, pallid,
spectacle-wearing little children, one sees specimens of the rising
generation who are destined to be still greater sufferers. As against
this, and off-setting it, the taste for outdoor games seems to be on
the increase, and for young business men who have little time for
taking exercise nothing can be more admirable than clubs such as the
athletic and the racquet clubs here, which give opportunities of
taking indoor exercise on a scale unapproached by any similar
institution in London.

When I left London in August and came here, it would be difficult to
determine in which city the streets were more torn up. The
construction of the underground railway here is in evidence all over
the city; explosions from blasting are to be heard at intervals
throughout the day, and in various directions huge caverns yawn, at
the bottom of which hundreds of men and steel drills are hard at work.
I have noticed within the last few years how the power of the street
policeman has increased for regulating traffic. In return for the
potatoes which Ireland originally received from America, she has ever
since been supplying this country with policemen and politicians, and
these former great burly, beltless Milesians now despotically rule the
traffic as effectually as the London bobbies. It is characteristic
that the youngsters about the streets should be keener, sharper, more
active even than the youngsters of London. The lithe, thin,
cigarette-smoking _gamins_ that sell newspapers down town are a study
in themselves as they dart and double through the traffic and the
crowded sidewalks, selling innumerable editions of voluminous papers
throughout the day.

Early in