The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-07-09
TRIALS OF A TELEG2APHER.
One of the Boys in a 0ouutry once
Tells l. is Experience.
From the Boston Globe

l claim the honor of being the hardest
worked man in the business, even though l
do run a country office and am called
plug by the city men. hold no less than
! twenty positions. | am town clerk, JUS
| tice of the peace, real estate agent 1nsur'
ance agent, postmaster, stage agent, ex-
press agent, aud manager Of the telegraph
| office. For the express company | act as
shipping clerk and delivery clerk, in the
telegraph office am manager, chief opera
| tor, night manager, cashier, receiving clerk,
delivery clerk, operator, boOk-kecper, bat
teryman and messenger. In addition to
these | am president of the village debating
club.
81 owe my popularity to my telegraphic
abilities. The inhabitants of this Out-of-
the-way locality look upon the telegraph as
wonderful and awe-inspiring intuition,
and they ascribe to me an almost Superhu-
man knowledge and pOwer. Only last
week | received a cal from n victim Of
chronic rheumatism, who had heard OF
electric cures, and thought | must be so
charged with the fluid that | could make
him well man by the mere laying on of
hands. | am frequently asked if 10 not
feel the injurious effects of electricity that
theinstrumentS give Off the atmosphere.
"One Of the most popular fallacies in the
country Is that the passage of messages
through the wire breaks the legs of all the
birds that may be roosting thereon, aud
much time is annually wasted by curious
people in watching for this catastrophe.
The peculiar humming of the wires, eSpeCl-
ally notice BILE in frosty weather, which
seems to come directly from the poles, Is u
subject Of great concern to many peO, le.
The generally accepted belief is that it is
caused by the passage of mesSages-the
louder the noise the more important the
message-and | have seen people try TO
read these dispatches by listening with an
ear against the pole
"He looked at the reporter, who was TAX
ing down all he SAID, and added: "You
don't believe that, perhaps' Well, you
newspaper men don't know everything.
Now for most Of my customers it is great
event to have any personal dealings with
the Telegraph. When a message is re
ceiyed the entire nelghborhood is given all
the facts in he case, and many Of the mes
sages sent from my office are composed with
the help of the community. Hence, the pri-
vacy of kilograms is not believed in and
| have often greatly offended my follow
citizens by refusing To tell them the CON
tents of certain messages to which they had
no right.
"The most wearing customer to the
country operator is the party who sends a
message requiring an answer. He is gener-
ally farmer vino arrives with his family
early in e morning. After being assured
that he should receive an answer in two
or three hours if all goes well, the message
is written, after much consultation, and the
family 90 trading leaving ono of their
number at the Office to wait for the reply
An answer that is waited for never comes
is as true as a watched pot never boIls. >
Every time there is a sound from the instru-
ment the sentinel comes TO the desk and in
quires if that is for us About noon the
rest of the family return, and they eat
their dinner, brought from home. During
the remainder of the day, the trading hav-
ing been completed, the party make the of
flee their headquarters, and drive the oper-
atOr nearly frantic by the close watch
they keep over his every movement. |
have often specialized on the thoughts and
feelings of this class of customers. They
seldom speak, and they apparently devote
| all their energies to waiting for that mes
sage. If the operator spends "a few minutes
| leisure in reading, the visitors indulge in
| whispered comments which fill his mind
| with uueasnesS, though ne cannot make
out their import and he can feel their eyes
slowly boring through and through him.
| Undcr this influence he sends message af-
| ter message to the Office to which the tele-
| gram was sent, implorlng a quick reply,
| reckleSSly ignoring the fact that in the
course of SIX or eight months the com
pany will call upon him to pay for every
one of them. HIS peace of mind is not at
all improved by the manner in which they
receive his oft-repeatod reply No, this is
not for you Suspicion and injured resig
nation are plainly expressed, and he has
| not the slightest doubt but they firmly ue-
! lleve that he has their message III his posses
| sion, and is Keeping it for the purpose of
| extortlng more money from them. At last
the approach of night compelS the walters
to start for homo, Half an hour after they
| are out of sight tho answer comes,
Tho city visitor is frequently a terror
| He generally holds the opinion that no one
in the country can possibly know as much
| as he does on any toDic. He knows much
more about the tariff than tho operator can
ever hope to and he is never backward in
| accusing that person of incompetency,
when answers to his message do not
come rs promptly as no thinks Uhey should
| once had regular customer in the person
of n clothing merchant who dictated his
kilograms to me. About threo times a
week he would come tearing into the office,
| CuatleSS and hntleSs, in n stalc of excited
| Indignation Humping the counter with
his hand ho would instruct mo t. 'deegrnl
some man in New York city 10 'Sen1t mo
dose goOtS ] hat bought unit baud for or |
scndt n constaple right away The tariff
! TO Now York was - cents and he always
that he only paid 30 cents the Inst tune but
would finally agree TO sen over the other
cents. He invariably forgot b. do 50, un-
I'll one day | refused 90 send his message I'M
til he settled up After threatening to have
me discharged and declaring he would pat
ro'uze me no more, he rushed ont of the
Office with the expressed determination Of
sending the constable 80 arrest me. Ten
minutes later the cash arrived.
I'VE operators have instructions to send
mes ,ageS exactly as writteD. If there are
any nisSpelled words the receiving clerk is
requested 10y the company TO politely call
the attention of the customer TO them.
| tried that few times and the result con
WINGED me- that the average man cannot ap-
! preCiate the superior knowledge OF the tee-
graph operator. From my observation,
there is no English word that is so oftea
msspelled or has SO great variety Of orr
! glnal forms as Immediately, although an
swor' does not como far behind ANGER
| amedatly' is one combination that [ re-
! member.
NEARLY every country town possesses an
OLD ioEy who does not baIicye in the tee
graph This class wa, well represented in
ono ! once knew who was p, incipa iuves-
tor, though no. an active menbcr in a
largo lumber firm. Whenever any of tlr
active members found it necessary to use
the telegraph he held forth at great
length 10 the effect that 'wacn was m
business the telegraph had not been in
vented, but | got along just as we'll. and
made rs much money YOU only cut
! down the profits by SauIiptr tuos..rr,. -