News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-09-27


orator, said an old telegrapher to a re-
porter, sit is absolutely necessary that
a person should enter the business at an
early age. Most of the first class opera
tors went into the business at about the
age of fourteen. have never known a
man to become even a fair telegrapher
who attempted to learn after twenty
years of age. Operators generally start
in as office boys, and gradually master
every detail of the business. A good
common school education Is a necessary
qualification. BOYS mostly learn in
small towns and become fair operators
In two or three years, although some of
them never master the mysteries Of the
dots and dashes.
HARD WORK.
Gas salaries are low in small towns"
continued the reporters informant, 1.-THE
newly fedged operator HES himself to
some large city, where there Is always a
demand for good operators. Instead of
the S25 or $50 per month which he
could earn at home he probably receives
S75 or $50, and Is elated accordingly.
But working in a city like New York is
no play. The best operators are put
upon the quadrupleN circuits, which are
worked to all the large cities and in the
slang OF the profession, are a steady
roast From three to four hundred
messages a day Is considered good work.
To send these almost half a million dis
tinct motions of the hand and wrist are
necessary. This causes a great strain
on the nerves and III many cases leads to
telegrapher's paralysis. I have known
men to lose their grip through this
cause and become unable to send a
word. They generally manage, now
ever, TO learn to work with their left
hand and overcome the difficulty. MI
merOus physicians have studied this pc
culiar effect upon the nerves of operators,
but so far none of them have found
remedy"
A STRANGE FASCINATION.
''Why are there so few gray haired
men in the business ?" asked the re-
porter.
''Ihat is because few operators adopt
the business as a life occupation. Most
of them intend to use it as n means of
getting something better. Very few re-
main in it after reaching thirty-tive years.
Many leave it, but gradually drift back
again to the familiar click, click There
Is Il fascination about it which is hard
to resist. To be able to sit down and
converse with friends thousands of miles
away Is very captivating. Operators
know each others touch upon the key
as accurately as a person can distinguish
different handwriting. Although all
send by the same alphabet vet each has
way of making it which is distinctively
his own. The female operators are
mostly well educated, intelligent women,
who honor the profession. They cannot
do the heavy work which men perform,
but are very capable on wires where
business Is somewhat lighter"
A CONTRAST.
''There is world of difference be-
tween the young man whoworks QUAD
ruplex instrument in a large city and
railroad telegraph operator. The
former Is well dressed person, who sits
IN his chair and rattles off messages
without APPARENT effort. But the railroad
operators life Is not a happy one. In
addition to his duties as operator he acts
as ticket agent, handles freight and !
sometimes turns the switch. His salary |
IS also less than that of his city brother.
The wonder is that more accidents do
not occur on roads where one man has {
all these duties to attend to- Thousands !
OF lives are daily entrusted to his care,
and the omission of few clicks from I
his brass sOUnder might send scores of |
travellers to a horrible DEATH In small {
towns the manager Of the telegraph Of !
flee Is an important parsonage. He {
ranks with the lawyer and the doctor IN t
the esteem Of his townsfoIks. The az d
rival OF green operator Is n source Of I
great amusement III some offices. The II
fastest sender IN the vicinity gets a u
newspaper and sends the new arrival L
columns of imaginary Specials Ficti- Il
tiOUs Chinese cables resembling wash HI
checks are given to the novice, with
orders to rush it.. &C
THE TRAMP OPERATOR. vi
ga few years ago there were many ST
tramp operators, but owing 70 the IN III
crease Of business they have almost dis hI
Perhaps the best represen- al
tative of that class Is Hank Bogardus. 81 .
whose name IS known Ill telegraphic IN
circles from the Atlantic to the Pacific. ct
Never working more than a month in III
Dne place he IS constantly on the move. III
and to-day may he in Portland, Me-, co
and next week in Utah. Hank took ''S
night report IN Omaha a few years ago. IN III
md ole night WAS overcome by sleep
md missed the whole matter, Heawoke Us
about daylight and realizing the situa-
ion left the celebrated message for the
manager which has made him famous
among the boys. 1t was-'Cap.: works
40 more. I RESIGNS. Hank He was
next heard of in Canada. But that style -
If operator has gradually dsed out, and =. "a
1 tramp telegrapher Is a rarity. /;
A YOUTHFUL PRODIGY. al
Levi Judkins, son Of George JUDD .
Ilius. operator at the Western Union ~
office IN CIaremont, n. H., began TO u
send and receive dispatches when he -
was seven years old, operating en- q
tirely by sound with the Morse II
system. In 1877, when Levi was 1
eight years old, he was referred to in the n
JD,uuaiCfHc Telegraph, Of May l, as 9SS
probably the youngest telegraph OPP n
orator IN the country, being a good L
sender and able to receive readily by II
sound and writing a good hand for boy Z,
Of his age" d
Mr. Huntoon, the manager at White N
River Junction, sent for Levi, previous -
to the strike, to work a month or six IA
weeks as he was short Of men. He went u
there, and during his stay at White q
taken place, Superintendent Gates. of IL
the Fourth district, who resides there, ~
desired to transfer him to Boston, where | ~
be had already placed dozen of his OPP Vi
orators, but the need of his help at %
ClaremOut during the vacation of the W. "
compelled him to return, after q "a
working about three weeks at White ~ ~
River Junction. ~
His duty at White River Junction was ~
20 work the New York wire, upon which M
S relayed all the through business for =
he mountain hotels and places on the To
inc Of the Passumpsic and Central Yer Al
mont railroads as far as Montpelier. He fl,
an send with either hand and record the -.
line Of transmission with the hand that I,o
nay be idle equally well. He takes all toI
'ress reports, and year since received "f
VI the election returns at the CIaremont 10
tiice. 1t seems very peculiar to notice nj,
i'm leave his game Of marbles and tax r,
lg his seat at the wire receive by sound or,
he fastest sending without a break. No
Ievi Is small, and when perched upon 70,
rs stool one would little suspect him of ~,
such remarkable talent He A.,
vii enter the Stevens High School, in iaa
5laFcmDut in SpDtpuObpr IN ,,r,rc11a n so