St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-05-05

men have got
%a the name of
being tough,
from the very newest canary" to the
eldest pole skinner" in the service.
It's the same way in Frisco and every
other city in these United States, the
lineman is marked down for hard
case. and the newspaper articles which
have at different times been devoted to
proving that linemen can punish more
''red eye'' than any other class are to
blame for the whole buSine Well,
it's no use bucking against fate, so Just
let 'em size up the gang the way
they want to, say. We haven't any
time to be writing refutationS, and |
guess we'll have to go down to history
the way we've been represented"
SO spake an apparently homeless
youth. one of half dozen who were
working on Seventh street, who had
successfully reached terra tirma after
having executed a series of mid-air evo-
buttons, sufficiently awe-inspiring to the
uninitiated.
"Do many men get hurt at the bust
neSS?''
well, mister" replied the belted and
spurred hero of the line, there amt
many men in the service but has done
time in the hospitals for one thing or
another. The trouble is a man
GETS TOO CONFIDENT
YOU see: he gets to thinking he couldn't
fall if he tried. and the first thing he
knows. he's in the hospital. with three
or four ribs stove in, and an arm OF
leg broken. The new men? Oh no,
they never get done up. A new man is
too careful. We call 'em ''canaries."
To see a canary go up forty for the
first time is about all the legitimate
fun lineman gets. and that's picnic
] tell you. You can't make the Jay"
keep his knees away from the pole. no
matter how many times you tell him.
He'll remember TO keep his legs stiff
until he gets ten OF twelve feet from
the ground, and then he'll weaken; in
go his knees agin the pole. and down he
comes with a run. Latf? Eve near
died laffing at the way some of them
ducks" carry OH before they get onto
the hang OF the ''crawlerS. ,"
what show is there for lineman to
rise to a responsible position?'
"Oh. his shows all right; there's al
WAYS room for the right kind of men at
the top. but the trouble is a man gets
no time to 60 into theory, The boys all
have a good practical knowledge OF
electricity. and many
AN ENPERI IN Il1Ebh1
would give a good deal for the practical
knowledge some of these fellows nave.
] think if the fellows had time to go in
for study they'd have the pull! on the
theologians. My idea of tirst-class
lineman doesn't end with his ability to
get up a pole lively. He ought to be
able to set up all instruments and
keep them in order: to locate
breaks bv the use of the galvano-
meter and all that. To be a sue
cess at it. fellow must have a liking
for the business. Now. one OF the best
linemen in the Northwest is johnny
Reynolds. He's on to the whole busi-
ness from the ground up, and can smell
cross four miles Off. It's KIND OF
instinct with Johnny. And talking
about fast climbers, it's hard to trot out
anything that will run away from Ben
Frank Fisk or Jimmy Carlin. Charlie
Jossling's a good climber, Itoo, but
bis hold is instrument work, and you
can bet he's hard to beat.
Danger from lightning. did you
say? Well. yes. there's danger, or
course, but the orders are strict, not TO
touch wire during
AN ELECTRICAL STORM.
The danger amt so much IRON llgnt-
ming. as from electric light, circuits.
You can never tell whether wire isn't
crossed on light circuit. and If you
get mold of one of them kind, it's good
bye. my honey, Pm gone"
1T would make you smile if you were
Oh the inside, to hear people come up
into the central telephone office IN the
middle of winter, and tell ABOUT tEe
lightning burning out their phones.
Whenever a man finds his phone burnt
as black as the fur on Jamaica Niger,
it's safe for him to bet that it's
light wire as done IL
You see some places the wires run Par
allel. and when the wind blows and the
weather's warm, the wires will Slack
ND and swing. 1t don't take much rub
bing together in the wind to snake the
insulation otf'n that copper line, and as
soon as she gets bare once and touches
the other wire. away goes everything
the current meets with till it gets to
ground. Oh, they amt on to it, so
what's the odds; it can't be helped,
anyway"
In st. Paul"'
"Well, there's about 200 regular mer.
Most of the boys learnt the business
right here, too. and right decent lot of
fellows they are. The trouble is, that
us men that work steady in one place
get classed with the tramp linemen.
They come in here, and with two or
three days work get dollar or two
ahead and off they
GO ON A FOOT.
ssThey can't get another job here, so
they have to fly. and US fellows that
stay here get all the discredit and none
of the swipes."
"Will any of the companies doing an
accident business take lineman's
risk?'
There's some of 'em claims to; but
there's no reliable company that will
do it."
''How does the pay rum"
"Working in town man gets $3.50 a
dav: on outside lines he gets $50 a
month and rations Of salt sow and cab
bage at the farm houses Oh the rOad.''
''Do YOU fellows ever get heavy
shocks over the telephone wires?'
''Do we? Say, mister. if you had ever
stood as every man in this gang has,
some time or other, with your feet Oh a
wet road, and pair of steel councillors
on anime wire. while some fair-haired
daughter of Eve at the central Office
played a tattoo on the line, your hair
would rise at the recollection. In a
case like that you're helpless. You
can't swear; you can't let 60 of the dod
gasted wire; you can't do anything
until the ''fairy' stops grinding, and
then--; well, the best thing you can
do is to try and forget about it, but it
isn't the funniest thing out, l tell you.''
The Calendar Carnival.
During the week just ended nothing
has been mole enjoyed than the Cal
endar Carnival . at the Central Park
Nj. Z. church. and at that entertainment
no month was more appropriate than
was April. January had its New Years