Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-12-04

wishes to very much"
The message ms delivered in New York
read: Jennie may stay and marry
George if she wishes TO very much"
The father Immediately received this
from Jennie: "A thousand thanks for
your permission; John and marry at
once. The telegraph stupidity made his
name George. but of course you meant
John"
How IL happened that John was so
wonderfully convenient is, probably,
not our concern, and we can only nope
that the father and Jennie have never re-
gretted this mistake of the telegraph.
The hieroglyphical characters supposed
to be writing In some messages handed
in over the Office counters Is sometimes
fearful and wonderful TO contemplate.
The telegraph Is only used in cases of
Importance or emergency, and the incor-
rect reading of a single word In con-
densed telegram is apt to render IL not
)nly valueless, but is liable TO lead TO n
serious misconstruction.
Business men especially should bear
in mind that plain, clear chirography
not only lessons the liability to error,
but helps To hasten the forwarding Of n
message.
To illustrate the carelcssness oil some
mems writing is the story of that Eng
lish nobleman who wrote TO friend in
India TO "plcase send at once two
monkeys" but he wrote the two with
out crossing the /, and otherwise so
blindly that his friend mistook IL for
1000, and on the first boat came thirty
five monkeys. with n note saying the
balance would follow as soon as SO large
an order could be filed.
Tho N, ON, I,arc of tho r,raaa orn not
empt from this carclessness of untrans-
latable handwriting. | remember n
special sent by a metropolitan reporter
from n small town, describing nm exccu-
tion. The sending operator complained
of the writing, and stumbled along
slowly and grumblingly, finally Gaping
the climax by saying the doomed man
then arose, partook of hearty break
fast, and went out and buried himself
with his fife" The city operator re-
quested halt, and after long silence
and evidently much study. was told by
the sender 10 change the last five words
to busted himself with his pipe"
Mentioning newspapers, recalls mes
sage sent by an energetic Cincinnati cdi-
tor who had heard false rumor Of n
heavy rain and flood in the country edi.
tors vicinity, to the editor of n country
weekly. 1t read:
"Scnd US particulars Of the flood"
The reply was quite prompt:
" You will find a full account in
Genesis"
An operator gets accustomed TO these
messages, and also 10 such as Send
me two daughters OF an outcast;n or.
We have no desperate mem" for he
rightly concludes that the last mention
ed are either 10 or from some book
dealer.
Why telegraphcrs, as n class. are so
seemingly careless and mirthful need not
be discussed here. Perhaps the lively
character of the fluid with which they
are brought into constant contact Is
traDsfused and causes this effcrvesence
of mental activity. One of their honorcd
customs in TIN initiating of an operator,
fresh and verdant from some small coun-
try place into his new position in a city
office, with its babel OF sounds and per-
picking rush and hurry. reminds one of
college hazing, or the sailors baptizc-
ment on his first crossing of the line.
The victim is requested to take n
special" How timidly he sits down.
and how nervously he sharpcns his pen
ell to take for the first time in his life
Hl'SH l'A N&At HalflNs IloN hIlf
mcnt buZzes when he saws " go ahead -
and closes his key. He feels the watch
ful eye of the chief. and lac must not, he
will not, fail in his first trial. And,
oh! what n dispatch for n newspaper,
IL begins all right about n railroad acci-
dent, but in some mysterious Why this
connects itself with temperance con-
vention, which branches into n fire caused
by n walking match. with Congress call
ing upon Mexico to prevent the duel he
tween the polar expedition and the Pa
ciiic railroad which,
He stops matters for an Investigation
and wonders If it's he or the correspon-
dent lat Is entirely DAFT. Then lac rtibs
his amazed head. and looks cautiously
around and discovers that he seems
the sole object of interest To the others !;
and If he takes good naturedly the roars
OF laughter and the pointed questions
that greet him when he also discovers
that his wonderful dispatch originated
in the fertile brain, and by n clever switch.
ing Of the wires, was sent by the fastest
operator in the Office from the other end
ofthe room to test him, he has taken
one long step toward frateTnizing.
The all.night men while away the
tedious hours after the dropping Of busi-
ness with conversation and stories: and
the better the story-telleT. and the
fresher his jokes. the more popular he
Is. And how easy to dispose Of borel
IL is said that on one Of the circuits re.
tween New York and Chicago and in
termediate cities, the all-night men had
only 10 request one of their co-laborers,
who had no other fault than his long,
pointless stories, TO relate something.
and then, Unknown to him - for.
they had no desire To offend him
would cut him out of the circuit.
and have n social good time for an hour
or two. On readjusting the wires the
honest and solitary story-teller would
be rafting along. unconscious of his loss
of auditors, and perfectly happy in their
remarkable attention. Perhaps the
reader has in his youth told with much
enthusiasm capital story to n sleepy
bedfellow to find, on nearing the end,
that his companion was sound asleep.
It's rather depressing.
A story. first told by San Francisco