The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1882-08-25
ss>DING A TELEGkaM'
,..,,srieuccd travellers Laoori0u' FL

iorm,n explaining that Nc
s''palDl send Geographic dispatch to
sI sS,ily.n Sds when a man speaks Ks, Of
j; s sI..ns~rssphic dispatch, l always w AN.
. 1s sY1NOk al him, because the cumoer,
70 al .:,iS i always at utter variance WIN
sone ~, If The telegraph. It's TOO Ions
Ae spl" of i betrays the man who mas Ut
The uS ~ the telegraph. The more he
IL ase ~, uire the shorter his terms. Inc
Ee' 'u ss " he can come to say
pore htaI''n the more content he
Id; S he doesn't call
) AanS"rsphic FORM he asks for. a
ia lTf 5lark or red, rs the case may be.
'ssnS var "l.legraphs" anybody. He
lSd hs , mem And he doesn't explain to
plfes WOW what he wants TO do with the
u 9ps'"pry ,esnnably he wants to write a
laA And as for the matters referred
as;sise H., 1msp' and the party Tor whom
pln tnassded the operator will know all
81: in.e m,iShcs 10 know-and sometimes
Pm more than you want MIN 10 hhoW-
an enough at, .ossor,er wr;te his
as.,' aphic dispatch" First he asked the
N.ss ori "What day of the month is
gsf n There was nothing unusual in that.
, .S n.n ask that. 1t is the opening line in
~ u u,nlar formula of sending a "msg."
y Ns NAY know what date it is be-
va entering the office, you may
@ nave il impressed upon
rs w, mind by having note fall due on
dsy Int the moment you poise your
y, .i ny aver The blank, that date flies from
fl.' mind ike the toothache from
Ea,,'s stairway. SO when the man
VII as'I' "What day OF the month is this p
ssF nat surprised. cOurteously answer
isi,n ,V asa cover to approaching his posi-
~ mn Int he did not believe me. He re-
yatd bis question and made the operator
i.'rpr, Then knew he was very new at
Ee spoiled three blanks before he got
,.rrnphc dispatch written to suit him.
MT Ken that is not very uncommon. a
nan always uses stationary more en-
.-.'vr,,antly in another mans office than
!. SSss at home. Then he wrote every
T,i in the body of the dispatch very care
Slr and distinctly, but scrambled her.
sstIy over the address as though every
SnSy knew that as well as he did, and
S,.iA off his own signature in blind
Istpr STYLE, as though his name was as
familiar to the operator as it was TO his
|, avn family. But even this Is not uncom-
man. A man will write Cunningham" so
t6a no expert under the skies will tell
Vbtther was Covington or Darlington, or
Clnnsgen, or Clarendon, and when the
oRratol points to 1t and asks, what is
5s! the writer will stare at him in blank
,nssment for moment, and then ans.
w "Why. that's my namei' well, yes,
know that the operator will say; "but
Wat i your name?" Then the man will
a,p ior breath and catch hold Of the desk
|, keep himself from falling, and finally
,Aolt "Why, Cunningham, of counsel" and
lNs piylngly upon the operator, and then
linee about the room with a panied,
locked expression, as one who should say,
Gentlemen, you may not believe it, and
% not blame you, but heaven is my wit
ass-here is a man who does not know NV
lane Is Cunningham" This is not unus.
nl Any operator will tell you that he
Asmet Cunningham scores of times and
n mortality offended him eyerytime by
,Sing bis name.
Well my tall man with the thin neck got
along little better than that when he
Lndsd the operator the follhwing explicit
ns.sage:
". sarah K, Follinsbee, Dallas Centre, Iowa,
-Tony Dear Wife:
"lsitt city early this morning after
atng breakfast with Professor Morton, a
I've man in the temperance cause. | ex-
leaed TO eat dinner with you at home, but
revere delayed by terrible railroad acci.
dsni, and narrowly escaped being killed;
slepiSenger was terribly mangled and has
Sn@dled, but am alive. The conductor
an cannot make connection so as to
rnsi TO Dallas Centre this morning, but |
On get there by O'Clock this evening. |
a,e 70 disappoint you, but cannot help IL.
WIN love TO mother and the children, am
Your loving husband,
ROGER X. FoLLISsBEE.
,ine operator read it, smiled, and said /:
lou can save considerable expense and
" AZ mat IS really necessary, I presume,
No'iening this message down to ten
,N' We have no wire directly into Dal-
ana Will have to send the message part
Mway over another line, which adds
rsay TO the cost of transmission. Shall |
noNeg this for you2' "No, oh, no,n the
" With the shawl replied, "I'll' fix Il my.
~ len words, you say?" "Yes, sir"
L.Sasiunner, for a fact, and the man
s Sa'W despairing sigh as he prepared to
~ 9s letter down to ten words, He
.s.el again after reading 1t through once
mee and then scratched out 1'Dallas
s..ae iowa, as though everybody
S,,,nS where he lived. Then he erased
SSS,h and ana drew his pen slowly
%VEn breakfast with" and sin
"a Nmperance.' Then he scratched over
, n.uy, with and went on to erase "and
SInvNy escaped" And so he went on
s S'Viuga the dispatch. Occasionally he
,.su nod II from him ut arms length af.
y siaNlg an crasure, to get at the general
M ~ ana al last, after much scratching
sahu a and with many signs, he came
, rSs window ,ndow aud said; Here is this tele.
~. spaS gspatoh TO my wife. | have not
AZ su1e 10 condense IL into ten words,
,,s so hol see how II can be done without
~ the sense of the dispatch Int II
rISarou,o y you would oblige me greatly,
M sv NY, WISH to incur any really upneces-
a,o, eapv'lse' And with that he handed
Eaay, thIa.or the following expunged edi.
w. M, S MS original message;
sMv M u .oLllNSnkE
s,, p.AR WIFE, left the citv--tbis
S,s -,us after eating-professor Morton AZ
n, vse expected to eat-you at home.
,riS .s were delayed by terrible railroad
ls.,tSss' on the railroad. I-beinr killed
~,Ss SS amaneled and since died; but / am
s,a,VHuue'or-l cannot-come to Dallas
NJ csGlout | can.-l hate-mother and
''D''u'en' Your loving husband.
The on,.., RocgR X. FoLLrNsnEg."
hcuicE ', nN. smiled once more, and in
" a,.o SS nervous way that grows out oil
tlinss az u with his pencil, and without
Ns,.,ssoo VI changing a letter TO the original
,s IIEs ,,ESir l II down to its very sin,
ii ti,SS,,!Iy ,smorning; DELAYED by accident dent
s"'' home 'seyening,
"The,o 49,, Room X. FoLLINsprr,
GERRY m. 'mat y all right he said In the
'fNy S% on, way these operators have
On, ~ WITS, sir, only % rnn,s IL V.a H.