Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-06-28
Acquaintance by Telegraph.

| From the Cleveland Herald.
While reporter was sitting behind the railinA
of large telegraph office, listening to the care
less clatter of the instruments, he yentured TO
ask youthful manipulation of lightning II he
had been Icing on the line. The youth straight
ened up and replied:
| "'Bout five years"
Must know all the boys on the liner"
| "Yes, know 'em over the wire, II don't ans
other way. Lots of 'em never saw but when
| they take hold of the key and begin to cali
| know who they are"
There is no more interesting feature of the
| Geographic service than the ability acquired
through practice, to distinguish between the
different operators on line by the manner OF
their sending. Acorps OF operators. each familiar
with his fellows method of sending. would
| scarcely need to waste time to affx their Office
signature to their calls the office wanted benr
able to judge what operator was working the
| key. No operators In the city become MOI
| thoroughly acquainted and conversant with III.
men on their wire than those at the head of IL.
| great railroad divisions, which extend in almo
every direction from the city. The manners Of
sending of their different men become as ia
miliar to them as does the handwriting of his
boOkkeeper to the owner Of bank.
| During the conversation given at the opening
a flashily dressed sub bent over the table and
| transacted the business with an air OF dignity
| that would have become bank clerk A mo-
ment later some office on the line began calm.
the main office. repeating the call a dozen times
/ without signing.
answer fw there" said the operator to his
assistant.
'But he hasn't signed yet" ventured the new
| man; suspiciously.
"Yes. but know him." explained the opera
tor. and just then the office calling ended up
| with terse 'f-w."
But can you tell all the operators on the
| line by their method of making single letter."
| mo. not always by single letter; but there
| are very few men on my wire that l cannot tell
| before they have written dozen words Just
as one learns another's penmanship We learn
| each others manner Of sending. We have to
get accustomed to all the different styles Some
| operators start Off with a hop-skip-and- Jump
gait, and keep it up all through message of
| 100 words Another will send slowly and stea-
Oily, and, should he have 5000 words to trans
init, he will not increase his pace. Then there
are fellows who will rush i'm message OF six or
eight words, sign. and close their key before
anything short of an expert has time to get
down the date. BY that way We are able to
distinguish between Them"
While the man was delivering himself Of the
| above information his ear was keenly fixed on
the business of the line. He turned toward the
instrument moment, and said: THAT isn't
| George working at NJ"
"No," said his youthful assistant, IL
was sent down the line yesterday"
| moment later he heard another friend I'm an
office in which he knew he was not working
He reached over to the key, called up the office,
and then spelled out:
| "Aint that you F."
| "'Es." came back the answer, sleepily; been
down to see my girl"
| 81 knew it was p" said the operation:
''you can never get ratified on his sending"
Operators never tire i'm telling the wonderful
legends OF their craft and the stories of their
skill and achievements. One told yesterday 10
| good and worth relating. 1t was during the late
| war, when everything was considered suspi-
ciOus. A confederate general, accompanied by
an expert in telegraphy, dashed open the door Of
little office on the Mississippi river, and placing
revolver OF the operators head. told him to
| ask 'M-," twenty miles above, 6there were
any gunbOats there belonging to the govern
ment. The operator was Union man. He
knew IL he received a negativeresponse the con-
federates would move upon the helpless Union
| town Of u" But there was no alterna-
| tive The other operator was watching him close
ly. So he called M. and asked II there
| were any gunboats In sight, There were nono
within fifty miles, but something in the opera
| tors manner Of sending led the receiving opera
| tor to suspect the truth. So he answered,
''Yes; there are two In the bay, and from my
| coming around the head"
on" was not moested. The operators
| sagacty had saved the town.
An interesting incident In direct line with this
| subject occurred during the recent telephone
experiments between this city and New York.
While one Of the instruments was being tried
the wire became grounded. The Morse instru-
| ment was cut In and the words; "You are Q
| crank" "You are crank" were heard over
and over again. The office men were for long
time undetermined to what cause to attr1buto
the breaks No sooner would an attempt b
made to use the telephone than the same breaks
would occur again, and the same message b
sent, "You are O crank" By listening atteu-
lively, old operators concluded that Il was the
work Of some operator hired by an opposing
telegraph company TO thwart the experimental
Those who were unacquainted with the circum-
stances held to the belief that the sender WAS Q
student; but the opinion Of the operators proves
correct. The :" bridge" was put on, the break
located, and found to occur between stationa
1t was afterward traced down % the work a
an operator paid to hinder the workings OF The
telephone then being tried.
As little Johnny was coming Into the reae
side door OF bis house, 1t being muddy outside
his mother askeds
ibid you Wipe OF your feet2"
mo. me'em, responded Johnny.
"Why n0t2" o8ke0 the mother.
"Cause II did, wouldn't have any feee,
that's the reason. wiped onmy shoes though
kestwcAv Jossw0l