The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1888-09-07
OPERATORS TRIALS.
THE COUNTRY TELEGRAPHER's LIFE
A GREAT BURDEN.

Personal Popularity Of the "Plug"-A
Popular Fallacy-Customers Who Are
an Annoyance-The City visitor-Pecu-
liar Mcssages-Tho Old Fogy.
Eyes, am the telegraph operator, and
claim the homer of being the hardest worked
man in the business, even though do run a
country Office and am called plug by the
city men. l hold no less than twenty posi-
tions. l am town clerk, justice Of the peace,
real estate agent. insurance agent, postmas-
ter, stage agent, express agent and manager
Of the telegraph office. For the express COM
pany act as shipping clerk and delivery
clerk, and in the telegraph office l am man.
ager, chief operator, night manager, cashier,
receiving clerk, delivery clerk, operator,
bookkeeper, hatteryman and messenger. In
addition to those am president Of the village
debating club.
~ 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 institution. and
they ascribe to me an almost superhuman
knowledge and power. Only last week l re-
ceived call from a victim of chronic rheu-
matism, 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 l am frequently
asked if do not feel the injurious effects of
electricity that the instruments give of to
the atmosphere.
POPULAR rALLAcY.
"One Of the most popular falacies in the
country is that tho passage of messages
through the wire breaks the legs Of all birds
that may be roosting thereon, and much time
is annually wasted by curious people in
watching for this catastrophe. The peculiar
humming o. the wires, especially noticeable
in frosty weather, which seems to come di-
rectly from the poles, is a subject of great
concern to many people The generally ac
cepted belief is that it is caused by the pas
sage 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 pole.
''For most of my customers it is great
event to have any personal dealings with the
telegraph. When message is received the
entire neighborhood is given all tho facts in
the case, and many of the messages sent from
my Office are composed with the help Of the
community. Hence the privacy of the tele-
grams is not believed In, and l have often
greatly offended my fellow citizens by refus-
ing to tell them the contents Of certain mes
sages to which they had no right.
1.-THE most wearing customer to the coun-
try operator is the party who sends message
requiring an answer. He is generally q
farmer who arrives with his family early in
the morning. After beirg assured that he
should receive an answer in two or three
hours, if all goes we'll, the message is
written, after much consultation, and the
family 60 out 'tradi;sg,' leaving one Of their
number in the Office to wait for the reply.
AN answer that is waited for never comes
is as true as "a watched pot never boils.'
''The city visitor is frequently terror.
He generally holds to the opinion that no
one in the country can possibly know as
much as he does on any topic. He knows
much more about the tariff than the oper-
ator can ever hope to, and he is never back
ward in accusing that person Of incom-
potency when answers to his messages do not
come as promptly as he thinks they should.
1--WE operators have instructions to send
messages exactly as written. II there arc
any misspelled words the receiving clerk is
requested by the company to politely call tho
attention Of the customer to them. tried
that few times, and the result convinced
me that the average man cannot appreciate
the superior knowledge Of tho telegraph op-
orator. From my observation there is no
English word that is so often misspelled, or
has SO great variety of original forms, as
immediately although answer does not
come fur behind. 'Ancer amedatly' is one
combination that I remember.
THE VILLAGE OLD yoGY.
tNearly every country town possesses an
old fogy who does not believe in the tele-
graph. This class was we'll represented in
one once knew who was principal investor,
though not an active member, in a large lum-
Der firm. Whenever asy Of the active men,
bers found it necessary to use the telegraph
he held forth at great length to the effect that
when was in business the telegraph had not
been invented, but got along just as well,
and made as much money-for you only cut
down the profits by sending messages But
ne was a great politician, and one year he
was very intently watching the gubernatorial
contest in Ohio On the night Of the election
day in that state he sent for me about 10
o'clock and asked mo If could not get some
news from there without its costing any
thing. On that night the members Of his
household were allowed to sit up later than
8 o'clock, the hour at which the old gentle
man usually insisted upon their retiring.
When the daily paper published in tho near
est city did not contain its customary quota
of special dispatches he pronounced it
hardly worth reading
1.-THE files of country telegraph offices are
rich in the matter OF peculiar messages. Ono
was handed in at my office which read:
Mother is dying Funeral Thursday at 9
o'clock The character Of the sender could
not have been more succinctly given.
'sIt is hardly necessary to explain that the
following was written by a German: Send
to Mr.. Bryant He shall come to here SO
quick as possible
"One summer Bostca lady visited the
village, and she regularly received two mes
sases day from her husband In the morn
ing he would say: Good morning, Hannah.
Weather -. Am well' In the evening he
sent the same message, substituting the word
evening for morning Tho only variation
during the summer was the fifth word, which
gave the state Of the weather, but this con-
siderably removed the monotony, since tho
message came from Boston. Hannah's re-
plies to these evidences of devotion, il she
made any, did not go by wire. At the close
of the season he came after her, and he re-
ported his progress from Boston, Worcester,
Springfield, Pittsburg and Albany, using the
same form that had become SO familiar to
Hannah and me."-F. Scott Smithin Boston
Globe.