Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1886-05-20
: ALWAYS Placid
From the Detroit Free Press.

From the Detroit Free Press.
The receiving clerks behind tbea... E
at the telegraph Offices are cool 81:
fellows. They take your messao.
life or death with perfect indiITers,.
mechanically count the words ~
look a bit bored as they reply:
at will be sixty-fve cents, ulea..
had my eye on certain chan /,
several weeks before ! humblss 1.
pride. He insulted me. He ins,,s.
me by softly whispering to himssls
he counted the words in the follns;'
message:
Grandmother died last night :.
suddenly. How many of you can J!
tend funeral!"
When Ihanded him the messa,a +.
pected him TO exhibit little mora ~
ton. While he could not have ~
personally acquainted with nv ~
mother, he must have suspected H
she was nice old lady, and that \.
sudden death had greatly overeass
me. Why didn't he look up Mil
bit of sympathy in his eye and SAL.
TOO badp' | know Just how :.
feel, and I'm sorry for YOU"
But, no. He whistled and connt.a
made a scratch or two with his ~
and remarked:
Three words over-seventycent 4
And as he made change he told :.
of the boys behind the counter M
he'd be-;f he wasn't going tn
dog fight that night. Then he pxlsI
up my dead grandmother dispaiSI
and banged it on a hook, shovel m
over some change, and turned as,,l
to resume the perusal OF a sportjps.!
paper.
The next week l went in with a.
patch announcing that my grand,
theirs will hadbeenopened and thar 4
came in for S25, 900. That man ~
have seen by my face that / was III
ly elated. Hang him, he never MI
the fifth of that sum, and his sala,,f
had just been cut down per mouti}
but when he had read the despatch n
calmly announced:
Forty cents, and youforgot to al
it."
And then he began talking to one
his fellow clerks about a sluean1
match, and how he won So by b4ttl1
on the right man. l don't say \
ought to have swung his hat Al
cheered over my good fortune. v
why couldn't he have extended n
hand and said:
"Eh, old boy? In luck amt yesi
Well, I'm glad on it. Send around M
cigars and we'll smoke to your God
health"
| made up my mind when / wea:I
out that / would upset that mani
equammity or lose a leg. I'd tumbsI
him off that pedestal OF placidity II
it cost a thousand dollars. Fdupsst
unbalance, and unhinge him or al
trying. Igave him two weeks to n
pent. Itisn't right to rush telegram
man out of the world on days ~
tice. i went back one evening, and d
felt a bit sorry for him as he glanced
up and then let his eyes return to IA
Police gazette. knew that his WI
and child were IN Ohio on a visit, as5
stepped to the desk and wrote:
DETROIT, June 6, 1sS5.--J. II. SmiAj
Columbus, o: Please telegraph us sulIp
ticulars OF the accident by which Nm
George Taylor and daughter OF this It'd
were instantly killed this afternoon.
S.P
| felt bit sorry as handed it III
not knowing but the man might faiaa
dead away as he read the terribleness|
Still, had vowed revenge, and Iwoui1
not torgo it. Hereceived the dispatch
whistling softly as was his wont, clad
tered the point of his pen along It'd
words as he counted, and then ID
drawled out.
"a dollar and twenty cents, and
where shall / send the answer"
'Did you read that dispatch
asked, after looking at him for halo
minute.
"Yes."
do you know the parties?
Yes, sir"
Isn't your name George Taylof'd
Eyes, sir"
aren't the parties your wife ant
daughter?"
mo, sir. They returned home tla|
morning. Here's your change