The gale., 1888-02-17
IA BIG TELEGRAPH OFFICE,
LIVELY SCENES IN THE WESTERN
UNIONS MAIN BUILDING.
Yhc Fate ofa McssaGe-A Thousand
Busy Operators at WORK - N
Great Hubbub.

w lnn u SUI EOee lItO wv
Of the Western Union Telegraph Buiid-
ING and desires 80 inform his wife at san
Francisco. 1000 miles away, that New
York is a wonderful place, and deposits
dollar bill for that purpose, he iittie
imauines the extent to which his dollar
suppor.s his avcrmcnt. lie little imagines
what the dollar does before the message
reaches the first telegraph pole out from
he building on its way across the contl-
nent. 1t goes in at the receiving window
md gets registered together with the
message it represents. Tncn IT proceeds
downs airs into the c liar where it turns
the wheels of fifteen mighty engines.
One of these. applied to u huge dynamo
magnet draws from it the fame of 600
incandescent lamps and scndsit cleaning
through the building. Three others en-
gage actively in the work OF cnlighten-
ing the world. They supply the electric
current that courses up and down the
continent faster than light itself. They
lake it from fifteen l,tie dynamo mag
nets, arranged in rows or gangs OF five
Zach, and placed in u room scarcely
larger than d hail bedroom. II two en-
lire floors of the building were filed
With Ieyden jars, there would be,
maybe, 40, 600 Of them. But the power
% be cot from them all would be less
.han that derived from these little dyDa-
mos. Four other engines, the largest ana
most powerful OF all, force currents OF
air through the most extensive under
ground pneumatic system in the world.
tubes run from the building up to the
L.. Il, IN, htrll cfranf tn
other branch offices, and to all the prin-
cipal newspaper Offices. If the tubes
were large enough TO accommodate man
he could be seut bowling along two
miles underground in just ninety seconds
with as much case rs il he werea feather.
1t is up in the top of the building,
that the novel sights are to be found.
Seated in front of 200 little desks, each
supplied with two or more noisy ma
chimes that clatter necessarily from years
end to years end, is an army of young
men and girls, the bG.ghte3t, quickest,
clevc est opc 1t orS to be secured. Every
thing and everybody seems to be in a
grand rush Little boys and girls tear
about as if thrones depended on their
being at 4 given point in the room at the
hundredth part OF given second. The
continuous muskctry OF the sharp, rat
Ting machines ever an anon grows
heavier and tiercer, as gusts break forth
on IL stormy April day. The very atmos-
phere ems excited aud in a hurry, and
well it may, for the air III the room is
changed every three inmates. -Four
huge ventilating fans, driven by special
dynamo engine, carry Off 1000 cubic
feet OF air every second and keep the
atmosphere in perpetual notion A pic
ture of u scene so confusing is difficult to
paint. If anything would only stand
still long enough 10 let the mental ca
mara catch its image there might be
hope Of obtaining at least a typical i'm
PRESTON But the room pats on as many
new pha. es Us the crowd that passes a
Broadway corner. Placed well in its
cen er is a little pagoda, an upraiseol
stand that might make IL sun,mer-house
were it set in flower garden and
overrun with vines. Here group
of little girls sit behind crcu-
lar table. Over their head is gathered
in disk hundred wires that run hilher
and thither a over the room, carrying
little messenger cars, such as they have
in the big stores running To the c.t54.ier S
desk. Here there are So many of them,
and they skim along in 50 many different
direct tiols, darting hither and thither rs
if lessed with head of their own,
and perfect comprehension Of their own
business, which nobody can tell them
better than they know it themselves,
that one looks upon their intricate
mechanism with anna emcnt, and Won
der why they don't come together in a
general collision. If it be remarkable
that they understand themselves, it is
more re ualkablc still that these little
girls, who have scarcely entered their
teens, should know whence they all
come, what they all carry and where
they all go. But with equal deftness
ard CO erity, the children capture them
all rs they come, take out their carg0es
OF papers aiiix to these a proper stamp,
and send thea whirliug of again, a in
the twinkling Of an eye. Whcp the me ;
sages have been received down on the
basemcnt i,oor, they haze sucked through
pneumatic tubes up into the operating
room and there seized uITon by the lit
tie girls in the gruud stand. Quick as
II fash the addresses are read, and then
they are whirled to that lat OF the room
III which the particular operators are
seated who work the particular lines
over which the message is to go.
1t takes nearly u thousaad operators to
accompliSha day business in tic Western
Union. Some Of these work in the day
time and some at night, aud others do
noihlng except relieve & g regular STAN
VIII le, IN relays Of lity or sevcntv-iivc,