The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-09-02


operator as it was to his own family.
But even this is not uncommon. A
man will write cunningham so that
no expert under the skies will tell
whether it was Covington, or Caring
ton, or Cummagen, or Clarendon, and
when the operator points to it and asks:
What is thisP'' the writer will stare
at him in blank amazement for mo-
ment, and then answer why, that's
my name" well, yes, / know that"
the operator will say; "but what is your
name?n Then the man will gasp for
breath and catch hold Of the desk to
keep himself from falling, and finally
shout "Why, Cunningham, of
course!P' and look pityingly upon the
operator, and then glance about the
room with a panied, shocked expression,
as one who should say: Gentlemen,
you may not believe it, and do not
blame you, but heaven is my witness
here is a man who does not know that
my name is Cunningham" This is not
unusual. Any operator will tell you that
he has met Cunningham scores of times
and has MORALLY offended him every
time by asking his name.
Well, my tall man with the thick neck
got along little better than that when
he handed the operator the following
explicit message:
Mrs. SARAH X. FoLLINsBEE, DALLAS, CEN
TER, IowA.--My Dear Wife: | left the city
early this morning after eating breakfast with
Prof. Morton, a live man in the temperance
cause. L expected to eat dinner with you at
home, but we were delayed by terrible rail
road accident and L narrowly escaped being
killed; one passenger was terribly mangled
and has since died. but am alive, The con-
ductor says cannot make connection so as TO
come to Dallas Center this morning, but can
get there by eight O'Clock this evening. hate
10 disappont you, but cannot help it. With
love to mother, and the children, am your
loving husband,
ROGER X. FoLLlNsBEE
The operator read it, smiled and
said: "You can save considerable ex-
pense and tell all that is really necessary,
/ presume. by shortening this message
down to ten words. We have no wire
directly into Dallas and will have to
send this message part of the way over
another line, which adds largely to the
cost of transmission. Shall 1 shorten
this for you?' mo, 0, no." the man
with the shawl replied, "rll fix it my
self. Ten words, you say?" "Yes, sir"
man heaved q despairing sigh as he
i pIOCccucu W JUL Ills - lGUlcI uOWu W
ten words. He sighed again after
reading it through once or twice, and
then scratched out "Dallas Center
Iowa" as though everybody knew
where he lived Then he erased
"early' and drew his pen Slowly
through breakfast With and sin
temperance" Then he scratched over
''dinner with and went on to erase
"and narrowly escaped" And so he
went on through the dispatch. Occa-
sionally he would hold it from him at
arm length after making an erasure,
to get at the general effect. And at
last, after much scratching and erasing
and with many signs, he came to the
window and sa d: Here is the tele-
graphic dispatch to my wife. l have
not been able to condense it into ten
words, and do not see how it can be
done without garbling the sense of the
dispatch, but il you can do it, you would
oblige me greatly, as | do not wish to
incur any really unnecessary expense"
And with that he handed the operator
the following eXpunged edition of his
original message:
Mrs. SARAH H. FoLLINsBEE My Dear
| Wife; left the city-this morning after eating
! Prof. Morton alive-cause expected to eat
you ut home But we were delayed by a
| terrible railroad accident on the railroad.
being killed-terrible p1angled and since
! died; but Iam-the conductor.-I cannot come
| to Dallas Center-but | can.-I hate-mother
and the children. Your loving husband.
ROGER X. FOLLINsBEE.
The operator smiled once more, and
in his quick, nervous way that grows
out of his familiar association with the
/ lightning, made a few quick dashes
with his pencil, and without adding or
changing letter in the original mes
sage, shriveled it down to its very sim
ews, like this:
SARAH A. FoLLINsBEE, DALLAS CENTER
Iowa: Left city smorning; delayed by acct
ROGER X. FoLLINsBEE.
There, that is all right" he said in
the CHEEKY, magnetic way these opera
tors have. FIFTY cents, sir; only
twenty-five cents if we had our own wire
into Dallas, sir; We'll have one next
spring, too; saves you several dollars,
sir. That's right, thank you" And
the man went and sat down on a chair
by the stove and stared at that operator
until the rescuing train came along, as
though he were worker of miracles.
And when he got off the train at the
junction for Dallas L heard him whis
pering softly to himself: "Shfollnsbee
-clish smorning; nothin smatter; home
saftnoon." And l knew that he was
practising his lesson and had "caught
on. "-Burdette, IN HaWkeye
"A barn in Cranky, Oswego County
was struck by lightning recently. the
bolt being attracted, it is thought, by
the large bronzed vane and horse with
heavy iron rod, extending into an elm
tla0-statf. The latter was cnmnletel1