The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-09-11
BILL, THE LINEMAN.
The Friend He Found at the Top
of q Telegraph Pole.

Bill was very we'll known in a GER
tain quarter-and not the pleasantest
quarter, either-of certain great
city. He patrolled the wires OF the
Eastern Union Telegraph Company
dor about half a mile along River
street, narrow, dirty thoroughfare
lined with tall tenementhouses, whose
very windows and stairways told of
the poverty stricken condition of most
of the families that dwelt therein.
Bill was large, lanky fellow. with
big hands and feet and face that was
as hard as rock and as brown as a
berry, through years of exposure to
sun. wind and rain. The clothes he
wore were not made to order, and by
the time Bill got to wearing them at
his work they were by no means new.
Upon his head in the summer he gen.
orally wore an enormous ten-cent
straw hat, and in winter he pulled an
+, old rabbit-skin cap down over his ears.
His feet all the year round he encased
An monster boots, to which he strapped
his climbers. For the rest of his attire
he usually wore heavy blue flannel
shirt and jean trousers fastened by a
broad belt that held his tools, to which
in cold weather he added a rough pilot
>coat.
There really was nothing remark
able about Bill the Lineman's appear
ance. and yet keen observer might
have noticed merry twinkle at times
in his gray eye, and kindly lines play
ing about his large mouth-but then,
the denizens of River street were not
in the habit Of studying the counte-
nances OF those who worked in their
midst So, to them, Bill was COM
mon everyday workman, who minded
his own business up in the cross-arms
while they attended to theirs in the
stores upon the street below. a
Indeed, all the store-keepers and
their customers were so very busy
that not one of them remarked the
fact that there was certain pole ur
which Bill the Lineman stayed every
day, except Sunday, for several min
utes-sOmetimes remaining aloft al
long as a quarter OF an hour-al
though the average condition of tn,
wires, insulators and cross-arms a
that pole was as good as the rest O
them.
The why and wherefore OF Bill
strange prediction for pole numbe
774 was on this wise: The long cross
arms of the pole in question were YER,
close to window on the fourth stor,
of shabby tenement house. Tn
frame of this window was quit
crooked and the squares Of glass wer
exceedingly small and full of cracks
while two at least Of them had sucl
large holes that brown paper had bee
pasted over them to keep out the win
and the rain.
For nearly two years the room whicl
that window dimly lighted had bee
unoccupied, and Bill had long sine
arrived at the conclusion that it woul
never again be rented. But one da
towards the close of a dreary winte
he noticed that the unbroken square
of glass had been rubbed bright an
clean, and. looking through the wiz
dow, he perceived that the floor Of tn
room had been we'll scrubbed.
"Ah!" thought Bill. new neigh
bors, eh!" Bill always considered th
folks who occupied rooms near hi
poles as his own especial neighbor,
.Well," he muttered, "'pears the
amt fond Of dirt and I'm glad {
1hat!"
The very next day there was anoths
surprise in store for Bill the Linemal
On the sill of the crooked window ",
. long. marrow green box. and. q
though it held nothing but brow
earth (it being too cold yet for plants
Bill Judged that the new tenant W,
partial to flowers. And he was gls
nj III 1T too. for Bill liked flowers hir