Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-03-13

You're al laughing with me,
w | kn .sGx you by, would DO SO, the thing is so droll!
Yes, the thing is so droll.
Abby Morton Diaz, in Vide A:r1ke
STORY OF A TELEGRAM.
Its Rapid Journey, and the Glad Message
1t Conveyed at Its Destination.
am called ga telegram" and I wish
to relate my experience. The man who
originated me was Gilbert Hardman, an
old bachlor, who through meanness
had made himself rich. Halt of the
money he had when he started in the
world did not belong to him but to his
only sister, who was a widow with three
children, the eldest of whom was Rob-
ert. at this time a lad of fourteen years.
Mr. Hartman had defrauded his sis
ter of her portion of their fathers estate
by means best known to himself, and
the money he thus basely obtained
placed him in a profitable business, and
he became rich, while his poor sister
and her children often suffered for food.
OF this he was we'll aware, but his
avariclous nature would not allow him
to do what his conscience knew to be
right in the matter.
But one evening a friend gave him a
ticket to a lecture the subject of which
was ''Justice." In some way the words
of the speaker found their way to what
little heart he possessed, and as a result
:he next moring I was born ga tele-
gram" and l read as follows:
ITO MRS. HENRY MARTIN, Denver, Colo.
Seventh Ward National Bank, twenty thou.
GILBERT HARDMAN."
I had lam on Mr.. Hardman's desk
but a short time when a little fellow in
uniform and with the letters ga. DIT"
on his cap presented himself at Mr..
Hardman's Office. 1 was handed to the
boy, who rushed to the Western Union
office with me, and there l was given to
a pretty young lady, who acted as if
she was very glad to see me, for she
counted me over twice, and seemed
very careful of me.
But l soon found out that she had no
angelic temper, for she turned me on
my face aud hit me a rap on my back
with a rubber stamp that nearly broke
it. Not satisfied with this cruelty, she
rolled me up and put me into a little
box, which she dropped into a hole,
where l was blown-yes, actually
b,own-through a tube up to the seventh
story of the building into u room where
l thought by the noise and racket that
there must be Il million little imps with
tack-hammers, pounding on tin pans.
Before l had recovered from my
fright, [ was taken out of the box and
carried to a table marked ''First Chi
cago Quad" where [ was treated to
still furtherindignity by being impaled
on a hook, after which l think | must
have lost my senses, for q kind of
dreamy sensation seized me, and I
found myself being sent in sections, as
it were. on q slender Wire. What q
sensation it was!
From the high roof of hat building
I went flying over the tops of houses
till | came to the North River, where T
plunged under the dark waters, to the
Jersey side: then | went h~urrying
along the line of the Erie Railway,
outstripping the trains, yer mount
aims, through valleys and towns, rain
and sunshine, till 1 reached Buffalo,
where l passed through such an intri-
cate machine that, if L had been pos
sessed Of any will OF nay own, l should
certainly have lost my WY. "...5N.
l heard the machine called a s:re-
peater," and [ certainly did turn
more corners than an Illegal voter on
election day; but [ got through some
how, and 500 arrived at Chicago,
where l came to consciousness by being
written out by an operator, whom they
called ssJake.n I heard him remark
as he finished me:
"Wish I could catch on to luck OF
that kind. I'd quit work, and open a
bank"
l was then passed to another opera
tor, who looked like a gentleman, and
[ heard him say, as he placed the fig
ures 245 on my face:
II hope that will make some poor
woman. happy"
did not hear the name, but I felt
there must be Il difference in operators.
Then came the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. sersa-
ton again, as 1 was whirled along the
slender wire, acros prairies, under
rivers, over the plains OF Kansas and
Colorado, where the wild antelopes,
herds OF butfaloes. and an occasional
band of Indians We're passing under
me, until l reached Denver.
Again ! came to my full senses, as I
was copied from the sounder on a
blank. Whew! what a ride that was!
Eight minutes ago l was in New York.
Nearly twenty-five hundred miles in less
than eight minutes, for five OF the eight
minutes were used for rest in Chicago!
I felt actually dizzy as l realized it.;
but my reflections We're cut short by a
piece of damp paper being placed over
my face, and l was first squeezed terri
bly,, then folded and put in an envelope.
heard the clerk call out:
aAN~.4 49,, 2,,elS