in action,
the operator taking down dictation on to the machine so quickly that
it was almost as good as short-hand. It stopped suddenly, and the
fragile anaemic woman who was working it laid down her hands in her
lap, saying she was afraid she could not continue. In reply to the
question if she was ill she said no--that it was simply she was
nervous. She said she had only just returned from the country, where
she had been resting for a week--a rest that she could ill afford, but
it evidently had not been long enough.

"It is terrible, especially for those who have to keep working for a
living, who have to work on to keep their heads above water."

"I suppose it is the penalty we pay for all this," she said, looking
out from the window at which she sat.

Down far below was one of the busiest squares in New York; a double
line of trolly-cars perpetually running through it that clanged their
bells as they swung around the corner; automobiles that pinged their
warning gongs and darted in and out amongst the stream of traffic
fish-like; labouring horses struggling under heavy loads; the cars
packed with people like cattle, standing up and hanging from the
straps in the roof, toilers coming back from work; the sidewalks
crowded with hurrying people. The seats in the centre of the square
held slouching figures with bent heads, figures of dog-tired
men--dog-tired with work or the looking for it. A sharp insistent
clanging arose above the other sounds like a wailing scream of pain as
an automobile ambulance rushed hospital-wards, carrying off one of
those wounded in the struggle.

No one can quietly watch the seething life of the City of Unrest
without being struck with the prevalence of nervous troubles amongst
the people. Every day one meets instances. "I dare not drink coffee; I
have not drunk it for years," one so often hears--then the piteous
longing for sleep denied. "I am not going to any dances this winter;
my doctor will not allow me, on account of my nerves," one of the most
charming girls in New York said to me a few days ago. The doctors all
declare that this nervousness is alarmingly on the increase, and
throughout every class of the community--from those who work hardest,
through the longest hours, to earn their bread, to those who work at
the pursuit of pleasure--the mad social rush of the Charge of the
Four Hundred. It is obvious that this pace cannot slacken--every year
adds fresh impetus. What will it be