of nervous collapses, the
sanatoria are crowded, while I never heard as much about insanity in
the whole of my life elsewhere as I have heard in New York in one year.
There is not a day in which the papers do not contain some mention of
insane wards in the city hospitals, but people here are so accustomed
to it, that no one except a newcomer like yourself would be likely to
notice it."

Considine nodded.

"I lay fully one-half of it to the incessant noises which prey upon
even strong nerves for nine months of the year without our realizing
them," he said, "and these so work upon the nervous system that it only
takes a slight shock to bring about a collapse, and then no weeks in
the country, no physic, no tonics can avail. It means a rest cure or
the insane ward. It is typical of our American civilization. New
Yorkers are the most nervous people I ever saw. The children are
nervous; little street urchins, who should not know what nerves are,
tremble with nervous tension, while the exodus to the country on Friday
nights fairly empties the town. Everybody wants to 'get away from the
noise,' and it is an undisputed fact that men who have no right to
allow themselves the luxury take every Saturday as a holiday, so that
in many lines of business so many men are known to be out of town on
Saturdays that business is practically suspended on that day except for
routine work. This is true to such an extent in no other city that I
know of, and why? It is the noise. Distracted nature clamours for a
cessation of it, and the unfortunate who cannot afford the luxury must
pay the penalty. It is a question for the Board of Health."

"Poor old chap!" said Jimmie. "It comes hard enough on us common
people, but how writing chaps like you and Aubrey stand it, I can't
see. I should think you'd find New York the very devil to write in."

"In some ways we do," said the Angel, "but it has its compensations.
For example, not even Paris is so beautifully situated as New York.
The tall office buildings in the lower end of town look down upon river
sights and shipping with a broad expanse of blue water and green shores
which a man would cross the ocean to see on the other side. The Hudson
beautifies the West Side. Central Park is in my eyes the most
beautiful park I ever saw. With its rocks and rolling greens, its
trees and wild flowers, it forms a spot of loveliness that makes in the
midst of the hot, rushing, busy city a dream